The Sea Dodecagon of Love
by ElysiaJane
Summary: What happens when the Chronicles of Narnia meet Pirates of the Caribbean and GONE? A sea dodecagon of love, of course! Vanessa Talydon accidentally transports characters from Narnia, Pirates, and GONE to a new world, where they're all stuck on one ship!
1. A Purple Rock and Brain Damage

Episode 1 'A Purple Rock and Brain Damage'_

Vanessa

In the beginning, there was just Vanessa. Age fifteen, black hair, kinda short; she was nothing special. At least, that's what everyone told her. Vanessa didn't believe them, but so far, there was nothing about her that could prove them wrong. Not that she even really cared about what they thought, but as you all know – and as Vanessa knew – it makes life a whole lot easier when there's something about you that make people go, "Whoa, she's unique!" (In a good way, of course!)

So Vanessa went on with her life, getting good grades in school, attending dance class three nights a week, and pretty much loving life. She made it a point to dress in bright, neon colours that no one could miss and she loved saying things that were utterly random, such as "MY BANANA IS ON FIRE!" and other such things, which always made her friends Skandar, Twila, and Celest laugh. She was known for being an oddball, which made Vanessa proud; she loved being the goofy, random one.

But one thing Vanessa really, _really _hated was being bored. Having nothing to do was her nightmare, and, to her horror, one night while her parents were away at an open house at her school and she was all alone and had rummaged throughout the entire house, looking for something to do, Vanessa realised that her old nemesis Boredom had come back to haunt her. Surely there must be something she could do! She rifled through the movies, but cast them all aside – she had seen them all so many times…Vanessa surfed the Internet and got on Facebook, but no one was online and she had already exhausted her personal library. So she stood barefoot in the middle of the kitchen, pondering.

"I could make a paper-maché elephant," she mused, but the idea of lugging out all of her materials made her tired, and it would be a very messy process. Her parents would probably be home by then, anyway. Vanessa considered calling Skandar, but decided she wouldn't know what to talk about. Skandar wasn't one much for talking, besides; it would just be silence on both ends after a few minutes, and that was no fun.

Vanessa eyed the woods in her backyard without seeing them, engrossed as she was in trying to think of something to kick Boredom in the behind. She stroked her chin thoughtfully, imagining she was a magical wizard with a long, flowing beard. Vanessa laughed out loud at the thought, finding it very amusing.

She decided to go outside; Vanessa always thought better when she wasn't enclosed by plaster and cement. So she darted to her room, threw on her jacket, and flung open the back door, stepping out into her backyard and shivering a little at the nippy November air. It was a clear, cloudless afternoon and Vanessa took a huge sniff of the crisp air, inhaling the scents of leaves, grass, and a certain scent of adventure that lingered like the promise of the day. Smiling, Vanessa strolled to the edge of her backyard, walking along the line of the forest and listening to the birds chirping high up in the oak trees. She had always liked birds, especially the fast little ones, like finches, that sang their hearts out all day. She felt like she could identify with them somehow.

Vanessa paused then, seeing the forest with new eyes. She was bored and the green trees had never looked so inviting before, especially plagued as she was by Boredom. She could set her watch so that she could be back by the time her parents got home, and they had never said she couldn't go in the woods while they weren't there…they had never said she could either, but that's beside the point.

After only a split second of hesitation and a moment to set her watch, Vanessa plunged into the leafy recesses of the forest, eager to get away from her dreary house. The woods opened up before her invitingly as she walked, following a dirt path that she sometimes used to ride her bike on Saturdays. Humming happily, Vanessa strolled along, no longer bored as she looked up at the clear sky and examined all of the various flowers growing along the side of the path. Once, she even saw a fox not too far away, his bushy tail dragging the leafy ground as he trotted. Vanessa grinned; now this was cool!

She came to a fork in the path and hesitated. She knew that the right led to another small path that wound around for a few miles in no particular direction and she always used that one when she rode her bike. Vanessa had never been down the left path before…She eyed it carefully and curiously, wondering what was down there. It was as good a time as any to explore, she decided, and she took off down the left path resolutely, bursting with curiosity.

There were a few more forks along the way and she kept right, not really sure where she would come out, but still extremely inquisitive about the new trail. Bright purple flowers, almost unnaturally bright, it seemed to Vanessa, grew along the path and waved gently in the breeze as if encouraging her on her way. She smiled, bubbling with excitement.

After about thirty minutes, Vanessa came to a clearing that opened up on a cliff; she could see green treetops for miles! Coming closer to the edge and looking out over it, she saw that the land dropped down sharply before her, but there was definitely a way down. A fallen tree lay across part of the path, providing the perfect handholds. "Ooooh!" Vanessa exclaimed, considering climbing down. But how hard would it be to get back up? The cliff was pretty steep…But hey, she was a good climber, right? She could do this!

So, resolute, Vanessa started down the cliff, holding onto the nearby tree trunks and the roots to keep her in place. It was a pretty easy climb at first, and Vanessa was starting to feel pretty good. Wait until Skandar and Twila heard about this! "I rock!" Vanessa crowed proudly, shouting for the whole world to hear.

But then she realised she was stuck.

Sighing, Vanessa looked around for a way down and after looking a few times, found one nearby. She scooted over carefully, holding tight to her root, and then continued scaling the rock skilfully. She worked her way down for about ten minutes, though she was nowhere near the bottom and by then it was getting a little bit more difficult to manoeuvre about and find little paths that weren't totally impossible to use. But Vanessa was feeling good and she was pumped up with excitement, so she kept going, determined to see what was at the bottom.

It was then that she saw the rock.

It was bright purple and lying a little ways away, lying enticingly on a ledge of the plain white rock, and it sparkled in the warm sunlight, catching Vanessa's attention. She paused, enraptured by the sight of something so shiny and pretty. Vanessa cocked her head to the side, trying to figure out a way to get to it. It was pretty close, so that if she stretched, she could probably reach it. So she shuffled carefully closer and reached out, but found she was too far away to reach the shiny rock. Miffed, she kept stretching, determined to get it. Reach! she thought to herself. Just a little…farther!

The root snapped just as her fingers seized the shiny purple rock.

Vanessa barely had time to register that she was falling before she hit against the side of the cliff, bumping along most painfully as she tumbled down the rocks. Her hand was closed tight around the purple rock and it seemed unusually warm in her hand, but currently, she was more concerned with staying alive. Vanessa smacked against one rock and then another, causing rocks to come loose as she tumbled along and fall over her like a hot spray of ice needling against her skin.

After about a minute of falling and smacking and tumbling, Vanessa hit the bottom of the gulch, smack on her bum. A fine rain of pebbles and rocks showered down on her, and she threw her arms around her head, feeling the sting of the rocks on her skin. She still clutched the purple rock in her hand tightly, like it was her lifeline. When she uncurled her stiff fingers, she found that the rock had cut her palm, slashing her skin with purple marks that glittered slightly when the sun shone on them. Forgetting the pain of her bruised body for a moment as she tilted her hand this way and that, Vanessa felt a peculiar tingling sensation that started in her hand and then began to travel slowly up her arm. It tickled, but on the inside, so she couldn't scratch it.

When the tingle reached her heart, the rock began to glow. Startled, Vanessa almost dropped it, but it seemed stuck to her palm, to her alarm. "What the…?" she muttered, trying to shake it off, but it wouldn't come loose. The glow grew brighter, making Vanessa have to squint to see anything. Her insides began to tingle again, like she was full of pop-rocks, and she felt giddy with the sensation.

The purple glow filled the entire forest, covering everything in violet light so bright it was like Vanessa had stumbled upon a purple sun. She closed her eyes tight, but the light still scorched her eyes. Wincing in pain, she dropped to her knees, bashing her already-bruised knee in the process.

Then, just like that, everything was back to normal. The rock fell from Vanessa's hand and bounced harmlessly to the ground, once more just a shiny, purple rock. She opened her eyes slowly, afraid the rock would get all glowy again if she did. But when it didn't, she heaved a sigh of relief, convinced that she must have hit her head pretty hard on the way down and that this was all a dream. She shook her head several times, but she felt no different afterwards.

Vanessa looked at her watch, suddenly remembering that she needed to be home by seven. She froze. Her watch read 10:00 A.M. in bright green letters. How had that happened? Then she realised that it must have gotten hit on the way down and had gone squirrely in the process. She pressed a few buttons, but the only thing that changed was that the numbers turned to 10:01 A.M. "Stupid watch; work! It's not ten o'clock, it's almost seven!" she said irritably, poking the watch's face savagely. When it did not change, she stuck her tongue out at it, but that accomplished nothing, of course.

Vanessa sighed and picked herself up, wondering how on earth she was going to get back up the cliff when she had fallen almost all the way down it. From where she stood, it looked pretty impossible, and she saw no paths that would give her a start. "Magnificent!" she yelled, flinging her arms out into the air. "You stupid cliff! You throw me down here and then won't even help me get back up! Grr!"

She looked around for a ground path she could take and found a small trail-like way that looked more promising than trying to scale the cliff again, so Vanessa decided to try it; it wasn't like she had anywhere else to go.

Vanessa picked her way through the tangled forest for about twenty minutes, bruised, cranky, and sore, not to mention the stinging purply cuts on her palm. The way through the forest was long and winding – as it wasn't really a trail – but she had no other way to go, and despite that she wanted to sit down and go to sleep, Vanessa knew she had to keep going if she wanted to reach home within the week.

By the time she got into a less tangled part of the forest, her watch read 11:43 A.M. It still wasn't working right, to her major annoyance. She really needed to know what time it was! Her parents were probably home by now, Vanessa knew, and that thought made her crankier. "Ok, think happy thoughts, Vanessa," she told herself, and presently, one of her favourite songs came to mind. Delighted by her brain's song choice, she began to hum happily to the bouncy lyrics and after a while, she was thoroughly enjoying herself. Vanessa even started to snap.

But she only got to snap once, for when she did, the world was suddenly cast in orange and pink, like a sunset had just sneaked up on her and pounced. Startled, Vanessa halted immediately and stood frozen in her footsteps, alarmed and more than a little confused. "What just happened?" she asked herself.

"I don't know," she whispered back.

"I hit my head pretty hard, didn't I?" she asked.

"Yeah, I think so," she agreed.

Vanessa blinked several times fast, but nothing changed. She looked down at her watch and to her dismay, now it read 6:48 A.M. "_What_?" she exclaimed. "Qué es esto?" She resisted the urge to take her watch off and stomp on it; that wouldn't solve anything. She looked up at the sky and saw that it was indeed blue, orange, pink, and purple, but instead of the sun being positioned in the west, it was in the east. Not a sunset, but a sunrise. Vanessa frowned at the sky, wondering if she was going crazy. It certainly wouldn't surprise her if she had.

Finally, she said, "I wish Skandar was here…She'd confirm if I was crazy or not!" But right now, more than anything, Vanessa longed for her bed – she was so tired and sore after her tumble that her bed sounded like heaven just then.

Suddenly, Vanessa remembered that her parents were going to pick her up to go eat with them when they got home, which, Vanessa knew, had been long ago; she was at least an hour overdue by now. They were going out for spaghetti, too! "I wish I was home!" she cried in frustration, and snapped her fingers in a 'darn' expression.

And with the speed it takes to blink, Vanessa was suddenly sitting on her bed, in her house, staring out at the wall.

Taken by surprise, she screamed and in her alarm, fell off the bed. Her bruised knee shrieked internally with pain and Vanessa gasped. "Whoa!" she squeaked. "What…just happened?" She pinched herself several times to see if she was dreaming, but she wasn't. "Ummmm…." she said softly, unsure of what to think.

Vanessa flung her door open and ran into the kitchen and was shocked to see her mum flipping pancakes. In her pajamas. When Vanessa looked down, she realised that she was also, somehow, in her pajamas too. That is…not normal, Vanessa thought.

Her mum looked up in surprise and said, "Vanessa! You're up early. You know it's only just now seven o'clock, right?"

Vanessa, glancing at the clock on the wall, saw that in the clock did indeed read 7:00 A.M. Nervous, she asked her mom, "Um, what's the date, Mum?"

"The fifteenth," her mum answered, and Vanessa blanched. The fifteenth was yesterday, though! It should be almost eight o'clock on the sixteenth!

Without further ado, Vanessa scrambled for her room, shutting the door behind her and sagging against it in disbelief. What kind of crazy dream was she having here? How hard had she hit her head? Must've been pretty hard, if by snapping, she imagined herself teleporting to her room.

A thought struck her. When she had snapped while singing the first time, the evening had suddenly turned into morning and the sky had turned orange and pink. When she had snapped the second time after saying she wished she was home…

Vanessa frowned, looking down at her hands. The glittery cuts from the purple rock were still there. She put her hands into a snapping position, but hesitated, wondering what would happen with this snap, in this crazy, crazy dream of hers. Who knew hitting one's head could do this!

"Um…I want to go to Skandar's house," she whispered.

Vanessa snapped.

Her room transformed into Skandar's almost instantaneously and Vanessa had to clap her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming. Panting with partial hyperventilation, she pinched herself as hard as she could and slapped her face a few times, but nothing changed. Nothing at all – she was still in her best friend's room at seven o'clock on the previous day.

Looking down at the cuts on her palm again, Vanessa ogled at them anew, knowing she was crazy – how else could she explain what was happening?

The door opened and Skandar's sister came in, her eyes connecting with Vanessa's at once. Samantha screamed and jerked back in alarm. Vanessa screamed in reaction, panicking. She heard questioning voices from downstairs and knew she needed to get out of there. I wanna go home! she thought, and Vanessa snapped again…

…And she was sitting on her bed.

Vanessa shook her head hard, wanting to wake up, to go back to the real world, but it seemed nothing – pinching, slapping, screaming – could wake her up. What was happening to her? What if her brain kept her trapped here forever and the brain damage was permanent?

Shaking, Vanessa picked up a book from her shelf, briefly noting its title: GONE. It was a good book, one that she really liked. Maybe it would help calm her down. She skimmed through a few pages, but found she couldn't focus; this was all too bizarre.

But then a thought occurred to her, strange as it was: "I wonder…" she said. "If I can snap myself into this book…" It seemed a lot of other things were possible in this dream, so why not snapping herself into one of her favourite books? And hey, the main characters were pretty cool; it'd be fun to hang out with then for a while. She could always snap herself back if something went wrong.

Vanessa shrugged. "Worth a try."

She made her wish and snapped.

Nothing happened.

At all.

"What?" she complained. "Not fair! Ugh." She slammed the book shut, annoyed, and flopped back on her bed.

Little did she know that something had happened with her latest snap, but it was not something in her world, but in the world of Sam and Caine, the main characters of GONE. Something that would change their lives, and Vanessa's, forever.


	2. Two Brothers and a Ship

Episode 2 'Two Brothers and a Ship'_

Sam and Caine

Sam felt the heat in his hands. It was like a warm, pulsing heartbeat, always there, always reliable. It had saved his life many times, especially in the past few months. Caine had attacked the power plant twice in the past week, but he and the others had managed to fend his twin brother off both times, albeit barely. It had been mostly thanks to Edilio, his soldiers, Dekka, and Brianna that they had been able to defeat Caine. Sam had done nothing but manage to graze Diana, Caine's on/off girlfriend, with one of his lasers, rendering her incapable of fighting anymore.

But now, as he waited in the cool shadows of the power plant, listening for any signs of his brother, Sam was all alone, with only his powers to help him if Caine happened to find him. He was not afraid, even though he knew Caine would probably kill him; Sam knew it had to happen eventually.

One day - maybe today - they would face each other and fight until one of them either died or surrendered. Sam had no intention of surrendering to his sadistic, sick-minded brother, and he knew Caine felt likewise. It would be a fight to the death.

Sam paused as he heard the faint brush of feet against the linoleum floor not far away and knew that Caine had found him. His heart skipped a beat in anxiety for the fight he knew was coming. It couldn't be much longer now. He tensed his shoulder, ready to whirl at the slightest hint of an attack.

"Where are all your friends, brother?" he heard Caine say, and, turning, he saw his dark-haired brother standing casually, hands in pockets, a few feet away, looking cool and collected.

Sam eyed him for a moment and then answered, "This is between you and me, Caine; they have no part in this."

Caine gave an amused smirk. "Then why are they always the ones that stop me, not you? Every time I've tried to take over this plant, Dekka, Brianna, Orc, or Edilio and his soldiers have stopped me…not you, Sam Temple." He pointed at Sam, a feral grin playing about his lips.

Sam knew his brother was trying to get him riled up, so he forced himself to stay calm and not play into Caine's game. He would fight his brother on his terms, not Caine's. "How's Diana, by the way?" he asked casually.

Caine's face darkened and Sam knew he had struck a sensitive chord. "Fine, no thanks to you," Caine snapped. "Your laser barely touched her, anyway; she'd have to be very weak to be too grievously injured by that wound, and Diana's not weak." But even so, Caine's voice was shaky, betraying that everything was not fine, as he claimed. Sam wondered how badly hurt Diana actually was. Either way, he had turned Caine's game back on himself and gotten his brother riled, while Sam was still feeling calm.

Without warning, Caine lifted his hands and Sam felt himself being lifted high into the air. A giddy sense of weightlessness seized him and he was briefly terrified of falling; in his disorientation, he forgot that he could still have shot at Caine from the air. His brother lifted him higher and higher until Sam was several hundred feet above the floor of the power plant. Sam held his breath, knowing that Caine would probably let him drop in a moment. He knew such a fall could very easily kill him.

Jerking to realisation, Sam aimed quickly at Caine and fired the green light from his hand, wanting to kill his brother so that if Caine dropped him, they would both die instead of just Sam. At least then, with Caine out of the way, Edilio, Astrid, and the rest of the townies would have more of a chance in the on-going war against the Coates Academy kids.

Caine dove out of the way of Sam's laser and Sam expected to start dropping at any moment, but to his surprise, Caine kept his grip on Sam and he stayed suspended four hundred feet above the ground, heart pounding wildly with adrenaline. He fired blindly at his brother again and he heard a loud curse from Caine as he tripped and stumbled to the ground whilst trying to avoid Sam's laser.

Still, Sam stayed where he was.

But then, suddenly, he was flying through the air towards the nearest wall. Arms flailing as Sam tried to stop himself but then realising it was useless, he closed his eyes tight, waiting for the impact. It came half a second later.

The air whooshed from Sam's lungs as he slammed into the wall. There was a second of numbness, and then Sam's body exploded with pain, causing him to cry out in agony. He started to fall backwards, free of Caine's grip, but then Caine caught him again before he fell five feet. Sam felt limp and dizzy, the blood roaring in his ears and black dots swimming over his vision; he had no strength to try and hold his head up after the painful impact with the wall.

Caine lowered Sam swiftly so that that he was at eye-level with his brother, and Caine sneered gleefully. "You were really stupid not to bring your freaks, brother," he said, pushing Sam's shoulder, which caused Sam to lurch backwards in the air dizzily. He groaned as his head continued to swim, and Caine laughed. "You might have had a chance if they were here," Caine continued, "But as it looks, I guess you won't be the one walking out of here alive, now, will you? I hate to kill you, Sam - I won't have much competition once you're gone." Caine sighed in mock despair. "But I think I'll find a way to muddle through, somehow."

Sam lifted his hand and fired his light at Caine weakly, but his brother flung him sharply to the side as he did so, causing him to miss by a wide margin. "Oh, Sam!" Caine laughed. "You're going to have to do much, much better than that, brother!"

And Caine slammed him into another wall, making Sam black out for a moment as his body shrieked with terrible pain. He let loose a yell of agony, not caring what Caine thought of him.

Caine just laughed again, obviously enjoying himself.

Sam tried to fire at his brother, but Caine kept shifting him in the air, never giving him an opportunity to aim properly.

Caine lowered him down again and asked devilishly, "So what did you tell Astrid, Sammy? Did you tell her where you were going? or did you lie? Again."

Glaring with all the strength he could muster at his twin, Sam snapped weakly, "I didn't lie to her! I…I said…that I was going for a walk." The memory shamed him and it angered him that Caine had brought it up, but he hadn't truly _lied_ to Astrid…had he? He had only wanted to protect her. And she would have tried to stop him if he had told her he was going to fight with Caine! Sam needed to do this! It had to be settled, once and for all.

"Well, that's not exactly a lie, now, is it?" Caine said, echoing Sam's thoughts and grinning like a shark. Sam flushed red, humiliated. "At least I tell Diana the _truth_," Caine went on, winking at Sam. "She was very supportive, too, unlike your precious Astrid. What a pity, hmm? I can already imagine what she'll do when I drag your body into the town square…Cry? Try to hurt me? Ha! That'll be fun to see!"

Rage blossomed within Sam and he fired laser after laser at Caine, who merely flung him out of the way, continuing to laugh like a maniac. "Caine!" Sam roared, desperate to kill his sadistic brother but unable to do so much as free himself from Caine's telepathic grip.

"Yes?" Caine asked sweetly.

And he dropped Sam.

Sam barely registered that he was falling. His mind seemed to stutter, as if it couldn't process what was happening, and, battered as he was by his previous poundings, Sam had no strength to even try to stop himself from falling.

When he hit the ground, it was as if every bone in his body had shattered on impact. Sam fell unconscious almost immediately, unaware of Caine walking up and kneeling down before him, his dark eyes running carefully over Sam's face. A dark stream of blood flowed from Sam's mouth, coursing down his chin and neck before dripping a drop at a time to the dusty floor, pooling underneath Sam.

A smile tugged at Caine's mouth as he examined his twin.

After a moment, he stood and rolled Sam over, his brother's head lolling against the ground on a broken neck. His arms fell against his body haphazardly, advertising the broken bones within. His legs were equally useless.

But when Caine put his ear to his brother's chest, he still heard the slow, thin _lub-dub_ of Sam's heart, and he hissed in displeasure - Sam wasn't dead yet. Honestly, what did it take to kill him? Caine wondered. He didn't want to end Sam's life with the knife that was in his pocket - he had committed enough murder in the past few weeks - but seeing his brother's body so broken and useless sorely tempted Caine to end Sam's misery.

Caine was surprised at the flicker of humanity that had stirred within him, but Sam _was_ his twin brother, after all, whether Caine liked it or not. And he didn't. Caine looked down at Sam and saw the resemblance in his brother's face to his own, for even though they were fraternal twins, they still looked quite a lot like each other. Could Caine really kill his own twin brother?

Hesitant, Caine reached into his pocket and fingered his knife, sliding it open and running his finger lightly along the edge of the blade. He pulled it out, heart hammering in his chest and his fingers shaking as he clenched the knife tightly, looking down at Sam.

Caine knelt slowly, putting the point of the blade against Sam's heart. He was trembling so hard he could barely keep his grip on the knife, and after a few moments, Caine realised he couldn't do this. He couldn't kill anyone, even his greatest enemy, in cold blood. He was too weak. Feeling queasy, Caine sat back, running his fingers through his hair in agitation. Why couldn't he kill Sam? Why was it so hard? He wanted to kill his brother!

….Didn't he?

Caine didn't even know anymore. He closed his eyes, struggling to control his laboured breathing. He could hear Sam's breathing too, only his was shallow and barely audible; Sam's body must be working very hard to keep circulating the blood through the badly broken bones and damaged organs…the damage that Caine had caused. He bit his lower lip, wishing that none of this had ever happened. He wished he had never met Sam and that the FAYZ would just go away. Caine wished as hard as he could, over and over, hoping for some miracle when he opened his eyes.

He stiffened in surprise when he felt a warm, heavy breeze blow through his hair. Caine then froze, wondering if Penny, the mutant with the power to create illusions, was somewhere in the room. And if so, what game was she playing at? If not…

Caine slowly opened his eyes. Smooth, well-worn slats of brown wood met his eyes instead of the dusty, greyish linoleum floor of the power plant. Caine jerked back, his hands slapping against the wood as he did so. They were warm to the touch, like they had been out in the sun for a long time.

The sun. It was shining directly overhead.

Dazed, Caine gazed up at it for a split second before the light began to hurt his eyes, and he dropped his gaze, heart pounding.

"What the…?" he heard a voice say. Sam's voice.

Shocked that his brother had woken up, Caine looked at Sam, only to be shocked all over again, a tingle running down his spine. Sam was sitting a few feet away from him, perfectly and one-hundred percent okay, like their fight had never even happened. He had no broken bones, no bruises, no _nothing_. In fact, Caine realised as he continued to gawk at Sam, it was as if the _FAYZ itself _had never happened! Sam wasn't gaunt and unhealthily skinny anymore, and he no longer had the pallor and wild look of a starving person. Actually, Sam looked…healthy. Normal. Like a surfer from California.

_I__'m hallucinating. Penny's doing this_, Caine thought wildly, convinced that the little Asian mutant was toying with his mind, for whatever reason. What else could it be? He raked his hands through his hair again, the blood roaring in his ears. But when Caine brought his hands back down, he started in surprise. His hands looked…normal. They weren't covered in the red, lacy rash anymore and they definitely weren't as bony as they had become over the past few months. They felt stronger, he realised, as he curled his hands into fists. Like he had never been starving at all.

Like the FAYZ had never happened.

"Where are we?" he vaguely heard himself ask. If this was a hallucination or a dream, Caine never wanted to leave.

Sam stood up, looking with an awed expression out at something behind Caine. He watched his rejuvenated brother carefully, knowing he had to be dreaming; Sam should be dying from the wounds Caine's powers had given him, not looking like he had before the FAYZ had ruined their lives. It was bizarre, to say the least.

He waited breathlessly for Sam to reply.

Sam blinked a few times, and then he looked at Caine. Sam seemed to be surprised by what he saw, for he said, "Caine, you're…you look…normal!"

"So do you," Caine shot back, dazed. "You're supposed to be practically dead! What…Sam, what happened?"

Sam looked down at his hands and jerked in surprise. Then he put his hands to his abdomen and then his arms, looking shocked. "I'm not…" His voice grew sharp, accusing. "Caine, is Penny here?"

Caine stood up, surprised at how easily he was able to do so. He's forgotten what it was like to move so quickly and to feel so strong. Excited, he bounced on his feet a few times, loving the feel of the strength in his body; he hadn't felt this good since before the FAYZ started! He laughed in delight, exhilarated. If this was a dream, it was the best he had ever had.

"Caine!" Sam snapped.

Caine looked up at his brother and started to reply, but his answer died in his mouth as he saw their surroundings for the first time. He and Sam were surrounded by water. On all sides. And the wood beneath them? The deck of a ship. A fairly small ship, or so it looked to Caine, but like one made in the 1700s, like the ones he had seen in his American History textbook back in school. But this one was black and…strange - the front of the ship (Caine forgot what it was called) curved upwards and formed the graceful head and neck of a black dragon, and the dragon's wings curved alongside the sides of the ship. A large, square, purple sail waved above them, snapping in the salty breeze.

"Uh…." was all Caine could come up with.

"You got that right," Sam said grimly, striding over to the side of the ship. He put his hands on the railing and peered out at the wide, empty waters around them, acting as though he was looking for something. Caine knew what - land. But everywhere he looked, his gaze only met water; there was no land anywhere in sight. Caine was stuck out in the middle of the ocean with his twin brother, his greatest enemy, with no land anywhere around and probably not much food either. Caine's shoulders sagged. Maybe this wouldn't be such a great dream after all… But at least Caine hadn't come into this place starving; that was one good thing about this hallucination.

Sam suddenly whirled around, looking angry. "Tell Penny to knock it off, Caine! This isn't funny anymore!"

"I don't even know if Penny's here!" Caine snapped back. "I haven't seen her in almost two weeks; not since she ran off with Computer Jack. And even if she was here, what point would there be in doing this to us?"

"I don't know," Sam said angrily. "But then, I don't see the point in half the things you and your stupid Coates clique do. Tell Penny to quit it and let me die already!"

Caine's eyebrows shot up. "You _want_ to die?" he asked in shrill disbelief.

"As long as I can take you with me," Sam said murderously, glaring at him.

"_I'm _not going anywhere," Caine retorted contemptuously, crossing his arms over his chest. "We had a fair fight and I won it. Winner takes all - that was our deal."

"_Fair_?" Sam snorted. "It's hardly fair when I can't even aim at you because you're flinging me through the air and slamming me into walls! I-"

"You had your chance, Sam!" Caine shouted, getting angry. "You could have killed me back in our first fight, but you let me live. If there's anyone to blame, it's yourself! You could have gotten rid of me long ago, but _you _chose not to!"

"You're my _twin brother_! I didn't want to kill you!"

"You think that matters to me?" Caine hoped Sam wouldn't hear the hesitation in his voice, and to his relief, it seemed that Sam didn't, for a brief spasm of hurt crossed his brother's face, which surprised him. Had Sam really hoped that Caine would actually care about him? Feeling uncomfortable, Caine tried to stuff his emotions farther down, but wasn't completely successful.

"It should," Sam said, eyeing Caine flatly. Caine suddenly realised that Sam now looked deflated, as if his last hope had just been stolen away.

Caine bit his lip, unsure.

Suddenly he saw a flash of green light from Sam's hands and he ducked instinctively, heart pounding in his chest so hard he was afraid it would burst out. "Hey!" Caine barked angrily, landing hard on his side. Sam's laser burned a quarter-sized hole through the ship's railing and continued on until it hit the water and fizzled out of existence.

Caine scrambled to his feet, furious. "What was that for?" he shouted. As if he didn't already know.

"Payback for the power plant!" Sam replied, raising his hands to fire again. Caine decided not to let him have the chance. Even faster, he raised his own hands and unleashed his telepathic power, aiming right at Sam, intending to throw him far out into the ocean and maybe if he was lucky, Sam would drown.

Sam's eyes widened briefly in alarm as Caine grinned devilishly.

Something invisible and rock-solid slammed into Caine's chest, vaulting him off his feet and flinging him hundreds of yards out over the ocean. Terrified and stunned, Caine released his powers, forgetting all about Sam in his panic. As he quit using his powers, he began to plummet towards the waiting blue ocean. A hoarse cry tore from his lips just before Caine smashed into the water, hitting his back hard on the waves. Underwater, his body arched with pain as an internal fire spread throughout his back and on through his entire body, rendering him totally and completely helpless for a few moments.

Then the shock of the cold water finally brought him out of his stupor and he realised that he was sinking fast. Frantic, Caine began to swim upwards, but he couldn't go very fast; he felt really heavy and he didn't know why. The blood roaring in his ears and his lungs screaming for air, Caine fought hard to get to the surface. It was still so far away!

Caine began to hyperventilate. He couldn't tell which way was up and which was down, and the more he struggled, the faster he sank, but he had no control over what he was doing anymore; it felt like someone else was commanding his body, not him. But one thing he knew that he, Caine Soren, was definitely doing - he was screaming _Sam! Sam! Help me!_ in his mind, over and over and over again…

Sam could barely make out where Caine landed. It was just a faint white smudge, the foam of the ocean where he hit, far out on the horizon. Momentarily stunned by what had just happened, as well as confused - had Caine meant to use his powers on himself? - Sam just stared out at the waters for a moment, head cocked to the side.

He came forward to stand at the railing, squinting out to see where Caine had landed. It was difficult to tell now. What on earth had his brother been trying to do?

Sam suddenly cried out and doubled over in pain as his mind exploded with the words _Sam! Help me!_ He clutched his head, groaning with the force of the telepathic message. Caine didn't know how strong he was! "Oh, God…" Sam said hoarsely as the message continued to pound into his brain and hammer in his head, making his blood roar loudly and his heart beat faster. The pain drove him to action.

He quickly stripped off his shirt and shoes, knowing they would only weigh him down, and Sam jumped into the water, the coldness of it making him yell. Then he started to swim, thinking, _I can't believe I'm doing this…What am I thinking?_

He was going to save Caine Soren, his greatest enemy and pain, from drowning.

Caine's eyelids flickered several times. He finally stopped thrashing and became limp, his heavy clothes dragging him further down. _Sam_….he thought weakly. But he knew his brother wouldn't come. Sam was probably throwing a party back on the ship, glad that Caine had, essentially, killed himself and that he no longer had to worry about his brother. And after all, why _would_ Sam come to his aid, after all Caine had done? It made perfect sense for his twin to just stay on the ship and celebrate his victory.

It wasn't that Caine didn't know how to swim. It was that he was completely and absolutely terrified of water. He could swim - he had forced himself to learn back when he was younger - but the shock of his powers rebounding on him, the pain of hitting the water from such a height, and the heaviness of his clothes that made it harder to swim, when all combined together, made Caine wholly incapable of surviving this on his own.

Caine looked up towards the surface - or, the direction he thought the surface was - once more before his eyes closed and rolled up in his head.

Sam got to the spot where he thought Caine had landed, but the mental messages had long since weakened and ceased, and there was no sign of his brother anywhere. Frowning, Sam searched around, but saw nothing to hint where Caine might be. He hoped Caine wasn't already dead; the thought made him shudder. Yes, Caine was his greatest enemy and had caused no end of trouble and pain for him during the days of the FAYZ, but now that Sam was faced with the possible death of his twin brother…it definitely made him think.

He held his breath and dove down under the water, kicking strongly. Sam lit a Sammy Sun in his hands and used to it look around for his brother. Once more, he saw nothing.

He swam back to the surface to get air, and then tried again. Sam at least wanted to find Caine's body, if nothing else. But would he be able to?

The light of Sam's Sun hit something and he immediately snapped his gaze to it. At first, he couldn't tell what it was, but then he realised that it was his brother, limp and face-down.

_Caine!_

Sam dove, kicking as hard and fast as he could. He had to get to Caine in time, he had to! He didn't know what he'd do if he got to Caine and found him already dead. The thought gave him strength.

Sam reached out and grabbed his brother. Caine's head lolled limply to the side, his eyelids closed, completely unresponsive. Panicking, Sam stripped Caine of his heavy coat, shoes, and shirt, letting them drift away, and then began kicking upwards, going as fast as he possibly could.

He broke the surface a moment later with a huge gasp, drawing the salty air in to his lungs raggedly and panting with the effort of hauling Caine all the way up. Caine slumped lifelessly against Sam's chest, showing no signs of still living. Sam shouted a curse out, kicking in angry and scared anxiety. The ship was so far away, and Caine was already so heavy in his arms…Could Sam make it all that way? He knew he had to.

But Caine…was he already dead? Sam hit Caine's face a few times, not hard enough to hurt him, but hard enough to wake him up, to see if he could get any response, but Caine gave none. Sam cursed again.

"Caine!" he yelled hoarsely, shaking his brother. Again, there was no reaction whatsoever. Sam shouted to the sky in pure agony.

He flipped his brother onto his back and began swimming, slowly but surely, towards the ship.

Sam was trembling violently by the time he reached the ship almost two hours later. He couldn't think straight, couldn't make himself talk. He could barely breathe. His grip on the ladder on the side of the vessel was weak, and he lost his hold twice before he could manage to keep holding on. Caine, motionless and lifeless as a corpse, was still on his back.

Sam tried to pull himself and his brother up, but the moment he did, his body gave a powerful shudder and he slipped down into the water, unconscious.


	3. Kings and Queens

_Episode 3 'Kings and Queens'_

Caspian and Lucy

Putting GONE back on the shelf and completely unaware of what her latest snap had done, Vanessa decided to try a different book. Maybe GONE was faulty or something.

Her fingers trailed over the various books on her shelf as she wondered what to read next. The _Alice in Wonderland_ series? No, she'd read those too recently. _Thirteen Reasons Why_? No, she wasn't in the mood for that one. _Sapphique_?No. _The Chronicles of Narnia_?

"Hmm." Vanessa paused and then snatched _The Voyage of the Dawn Treader_ from the shelf and thumbed through it. She hadn't read the Narnia books in ages. Vanessa actually liked the movies a lot better, but hey, you can't read movies, and she didn't really want to go out of her room just yet, so she settled on her bed with the book and made her wish.

Vanessa snapped again.

And…nothing happened. Again.

Groaning, Vanessa dropped her head down in defeat. What good was a teleporting power - even if it was the result of a brain injury - if one couldn't teleport into to other worlds? "Really?" she demanded, looking at the cuts on her hands.

She was really beginning to despise that shiny purple rock.

Caspian the Tenth, twenty-one years old, king of Narnia, Archenland, and the Lone Islands, was having a rough day.

First, the general of the Narnian army and his soldiers had come back from a long campaign in Archenland and alerted Caspian to the fact that the Archenlanders were angry with the way he was handling things and had declared war on Narnia. Their armies were marching towards Cair Paravel at this very minute, and Caspian was very worried that they wouldn't be ready when the Archenlanders got there.

Second, Peter kept giving him that smug 'I told you so' look every time he saw Caspian and it was driving Caspian insane. Peter already thought he was a better king than Caspian and this seemed to only confirm it, to Caspian's dismay. So he had grudgingly offered Peter control of the army and full authority to try and fix this problem anyway we could - it wasn't like Caspian had anything to lose, anyway - but Peter had declined, adding salt to the wound by telling Caspian - in an obviously sarcastic way - that he believed Caspian could handle this mess perfectly well without any help from him. Caspian had never felt so humiliated in his life.

And third - Susan. Caspian sighed heavily just thinking about her. Since the four Pevensies had come back, three years after their first encounter when they had helped rid Narnia of his uncle Miraz, Susan had acted like he didn't exist, and if she did speak to him, she acted cool and indifferent, like she was speaking to her inferior and not her friend. Lucy had told him it'd only been one year back in their world since they had been in Narnia, which made it even more puzzling - had she really dismissed him and his affections for her that quickly? Or was there something else behind her strange actions? Caspian had asked Lucy about it once or twice, but she hadn't any more idea about her sister's indifference than he had - apparently Susan hadn't told Lucy anything either.

"Caspian," he heard Edmund say. He turned and saw Peter's younger brother - and his good friend - standing at the door.

"Yes?"

"Drinian" - Caspian's ship captain - "want to see you," Edmund said. "About the _Dawn Treader_."

Puzzled, Caspian asked, "What about it?" The _Dawn Treader_ was Narnia's finest and most beautiful ship, built by Drinian and his skilled crew only a year ago. It was in that ship that Caspian, Edmund, Lucy, and their cousin Eustace had sailed to the end of the world - Aslan's country - and said farewell to Reepicheep, the talking mouse that had helped them fight against Miraz those three years ago. They had also had many other strange adventures along the way, and had grown closer as friends and as a family. Caspian only wished Susan and Peter could have been there as well.

Edmund shrugged, looking equally bemused. 'He didn't say anything other than 'it's urgent'. I don't know. He looked pretty upset…"

Alarm raced through Caspian at that. What if something had happened to the _Dawn Treader_? He couldn't bear the thought of something terrible befalling that beautiful ship that so many people had worked so hard to build. The _Dawn Treader_ was the pride of Narnia; Caspian didn't know what would happen if the great ship was damaged or ruined.

He stood quickly and followed Ed out of the room, anxious to hear what his captain had to say.

Lucy met them along the way and greeted the boys with a smile. Caspian smiled back, glad to see her. Behind Susan, Lucy was probably his favourite Pevensie - though Edmund came in a very close third - because she was always cheerful, kind, and willing to help no matter what. She was never short-tempered with him - like the other three were - and always encouraged Caspian to keep trying, no matter how badly he failed. Of course, she was like that around everyone, but it meant a lot of Caspian that 'everyone' always included him, too.

"Where are you two off to?" she asked cheerfully as she fell in step beside her brother.

"Drinian asked to see me; something about the _Dawn Treader_," Caspian explained, his previous worries about the ship returning.

Lucy seemed to sense that there was something ominous about Drinian's message, for a frown crossed her face and she asked, "Has something happened, Caspian? Is something wrong?"

"We don't know," Edmund replied. "Drinian didn't say." But he sounded worried as well, which was not very comforting to Caspian. Edmund was usually very nonchalant and not worried about anything, especially since he had been king of Narnia for nearly sixteen years and Caspian had only been king for three and Ed had had much more experience with the difficult things and situations that Caspian now faced. So to hear Edmund sounding worried now…it only made Caspian more anxious.

"Well," Lucy said. "I bet it's nothing that bad. Maybe he just wants to ask you if he can sail to the Lone Islands again." Drinian was from the Lone Islands, which were several hundred miles away from Narnia, and his family still lived there. He had used the _Dawn Treader_ once or twice before to sail there, but for some reason, Caspian didn't think that was what this message was about.

Edmund echoed his thoughts by saying, "I don't think so, Lu. I think he would have just told Caspian if that's what he'd wanted. This sounded too…urgent to be something like that."

Lucy still looked unsure.

Caspian forced a smile and said, "Maybe you're right, Lucy. Maybe we are overreacting."

It turns out they weren't.

Drinian was waiting at the dock for them, looking grim. The _Dawn Treader_ was nowhere to be seen, Caspian realised with a sick feeling. The waters where the grand ship usually sat were empty, though all of the other navy ships were still there. The _Dawn Treader_ should have been there, where it always was when docked, but it wasn't. It was just….gone.

"What…?" Edmund said beside Caspian. "Where is it? Where'd it go?"

"No explanation, no warning," Drinian said gloomily. "It just….disappeared-"

"_Disappeared_?" Lucy asked in disbelief. "How could a ship like that disappear?"

Drinian shrugged. "That's what I'd like to know, too, Your Highness. One minute it was here and the next it wasn't. I don't see how it could've been stolen. Luckily, there was no one on board."

Edmund, who had walked down the dock to the edge and now stood staring at the empty spot where the _Dawn Treader_ ought to have been, turned and called back, "Could it have been magic?"

"It'd have to have been a very powerful magic to make a ship disappear," Caspian said, doubts and speculations filling his mind. Drinian was right; it couldn't have been stolen. And while Edmund's theory went along with how the Pevensies usually got to Narnia, Caspian very much doubted that the _Dawn Treader_ would have been transported elsewhere by magic or by any other means. To what point and purpose, too?

"It's so strange," Lucy said softly, gazing out at the gently lapping waves, her blue eyes searching for some sign of the majestic Narnian ship.

By now, a crowd of people and ship-hands had gathered at the dock, all murmuring amongst themselves and shouting questions out to Caspian, Lucy, and Drinian. Edmund stayed where he was at the edge of the dock.

"My King, what happened to the ship?" Caspian heard once voice call.

"Where'd it go?" another said.

"I saw what happened! It was there and then it wasn't!" yet another cried. "It was like magic! If you blinked, you would've missed it."

That only caused the volume of voices and questions to increase, to Caspian's dismay. What was he to do now? How was he supposed to find a ship that had just disappeared with explanation? He glanced down at Lucy and saw that she was still looking out at the waves, a frown on her face. "What do you think, Lucy?" he asked her.

She didn't reply for a moment, but when she did, she looked up at him and said helplessly, "I don't know, Caspian. I've never seen anything like this before. If it was magic, I don't know why…."

"What do you want to do, Your Majesty?" Drinian asked, still looking grim. Caspian could understand why - Drinian had had a large part in building the _Dawn Treader_, and it was his pride and joy. To know that it had vanished in such a strange and unexplainable way must be hard on him, as well as frustrating. Caspian put a reassuring hand on his captain's shoulder. "I don't know yet, Drinian, but we'll find it. I promise. There must be some way to get it ba-"

Caspian never got to finish his sentence, for one moment he was on the Narnian dock with Drinian, Lucy, and Edmund, and the next, he was standing alone on the deck of a ship, looking out at the clear, blue ocean. Caspian staggered back a few steps, taken by surprise. The ship was identical in every way to the _Dawn Treader_, except that it was black instead of being so brightly coloured, full of greens, golds, and blues. The only thing that was the same was the bright purple, square sail.

But _where was he_?

Caspian wondered if he had somehow been transported into the world of the Pevensies, like they were transported into his. As magic was common in Narnia - at least, it was when one spent any amount of time around the Pevensies - Caspian was not completely shocked by this strange turn of events, like someone who had never been around magic would be.

But was there any way to get _back _to Narnia…? Caspian did not want to be away too long from his kingdom, especially if it would be turned over to Peter - as he knew it would be - in his absence. The very thought made Caspian shiver with frustration.

Then he heard a low gasp from behind him. Caspian turned quickly to see Lucy, her eyes wide, standing a few feet behind him. He was relieved that someone else was here in this strange place, but puzzled as well. Lucy obviously didn't recognise this location…so _were _they in her world? Or were they in some other world? Caspian frowned. _How many worlds are there? _he wondered.

"Lucy, do you know where we are?" he asked, hoping she would. If not…that would be very bad indeed.

Lucy walked slowly to the railing of the ship. Caspian followed. She put her hands on the wood and gazed out at the wide open ocean before them, blue eyes narrowed in concentration, as if she were trying hard to remember if she had been here before. Then she happened to look down.

Lucy gasped, startling Caspian. "What?" he asked. "What is it?"

She pointed, finger trembling.

Caspian looked down and saw two boys in the water. Both looked unconscious and while one was face up, the other was face down, making Caspian doubt very much that he was still alive. Who knew how long they had been there?

Then he realised that Lucy had climbed over the railing and was now descending on the ladder, down towards the boys in the water. "Lucy!" he said. "What are you doing?" He began to follow her, alarmed and afraid she would fall.

"They might still be alive!" she explained.

"I don't think-"

"They _might_ be!" Lucy replied irritably. She reached the end of the ladder and lowered herself into the water, reaching out and pulling the closest boy, the one that was face up, to her. Caspian paused, waiting to hear her verdict. Lucy put her hand on his bare chest and waited for a moment, concentrating hard. Then she beamed up at Caspian, eyes sparkling. "He's alive!" she exulted happily.

Surprised, Caspian was silent. He wondered how long the boys had been in the water, if they were still alive. Surely not very long. "Caspian! Can you lift him up on deck?" Lucy asked, looking like she was having a hard time holding the boy out of the water; he was muscular, and Lucy was very small - no doubt she was not strong enough to hold him up for much longer.

Caspian looked about for a rope he could lower down to her and, seeing one, he took it and used its pulley to let down the rough rope to her. "Lucy, tie the rope around him and I'll pull him up," Caspian instructed.

She reached out and caught the rope. Lucy struggled to tie the rope around the boy, as it required both hands and she therefore could not hold onto the ship, but she eventually got him secured and called, "All right!" up to Caspian.

He began pulling and Lucy guided the limp boy until he was out of her reach. When the boy came close enough, Caspian, one hand still on the rope, reached out and pulled him over the railing. He lowered him gently to the deck and untied the rope from his waist. The boy made no movement, making Caspian doubt again that he was alive, but when he put his hand to the boy's heart as Lucy had, he did indeed feel a heartbeat. He wasn't dead _yet_, at any rate.

Caspian left the boy and went back to the railing. Lucy was swimming strongly out to the other boy, who had begun to drift away from the ship. The first thing she did when she got to him was turn him over, as he had been floating face down in the blue waters. Caspian was dead certain he was no longer alive; how could he be? Lucy brushed the boy's shaggy black hair away from his face and then she listened for a heartbeat. Caspian saw her frown. She listened again, but once more, he saw no hopeful spark in her eyes.

Lucy sighed heavily and then began hauling the boy back towards the ship anyway. Caspian wondered what she intended to do with him since he was dead, but he also did not want to leave the boy for the fish.

She grabbed the rope and tied it around the other boy's waist, and Caspian dutifully him towed him up to the deck. He set the dead boy down beside the other, but just to make sure, he put his fingers to the dark-haired boy's throat. Caspian thought he felt a flicker, but when he didn't feel another, he confirmed mentally that the boy was dead. When he checked the other boy, he found that he was still alive.

Lucy came climbing up the ladder and swung her legs over the side, looking grave. She came to stand beside Caspian and looked down at the two boys for a moment before saying softly, "He's dead, isn't he?"

"Yes."

Lucy knelt down by the dead boy and put her hand on his chest, to check one more time for a heartbeat. Caspian knew she wouldn't find one. She drew her hand away a moment later, looking defeated.

"Lucy," Caspian said softly. "Do you have your healing cordial? This other boy looks like he could use a dose of it." He gestured to the blonde boy.

Lucy glanced at her waist, saw the diamond bottle strapped to her belt, and brightened. She took it out and unscrewed the cap, setting it down beside her. Then she reached out, lifted the blonde boy's head, and let a drop of the cordial fall into his mouth. It was several breathless minutes before he reacted. At first, Caspian wasn't sure he was going to, but finally, the boy began to cough weakly and then harder. They were deep, hacking, painful sounding coughs, and Caspian guessed he had some water still in his lungs.

The boy sat up slowly, looking like every movement pained him greatly and coughed hard for several minutes, his hand pressed to his mouth. Lucy watched anxiously, like a mother guarding her sick child.

Caspian stood and said to Lucy, "I'll get him some water."

"Thank you, Caspian," she said, smiling at him, and then she focused on the boy again, worry crossing her face.

When the blonde boy finally stopped coughing, he slumped back against the sun-warmed deck, eyes closed and breathing shallow. Lucy pressed her lips together into a firm line, hoping he would be okay. At least he was alive, though, unlike the unfortunate other boy. Lucy felt like she had failed him, though she knew there was nothing else she could do. Except…She _could_ give him a drop of the cordial, just in case, but since neither she nor Caspian had felt a pulse, it would just be wasting the precious fireflower juice. Still…

Not optimistic, Lucy put her hand on the back of the dead boy's neck and lifted his head up gently, resting it on her lap. She carefully let a single, ruby-red drop of the fireflower juice fall into his mouth, but even after five minutes, nothing happened, as she had expected. Sighing, Lucy stroked his hair back from his face, wishing there was something more she could have done to save him. He looked young, perhaps her age or a little older. Either way, far too young to die. Lucy struggled not to cry; she had seen death so many times over her fifteen-year reign as queen and in all of the numerous battles she'd fought over the years, but it always broke her heart even more to see people her own age dying and dead. They still had so much life to live! It wasn't fair, but Lucy knew it was the way life worked.

Caspian came back and knelt beside her. "You tried to cordial?" he asked, noting the bottle in her hand.

She nodded sadly.

"And…?"

"Nothing," she confirmed. "He's gone for sure."

"I'm sorry, Lucy," Caspian said gently, putting a hand on her shoulder as he saw how grieved she looked. She was such a gentle, caring soul; to have someone die so recently and so nearby…it had to be hard on her.

She smiled gratefully at him and then took the cup from his hand, glancing at the blonde boy a few feet away. "Well," she said, "This one's still alive, and no doubt thirsty." She scooted over to the other boy, and, lifting him gently, put the cup to his lips and let a little of the liquid flow into his mouth. The boy jerked a little as if surprised and though he did not open his eyes, he weakly lifted his hand as if to take the cup himself, but Lucy took his hand, assuring him gently, "It's all right, I've got it. You just rest now."

And he relaxed, letting her continue to give him water. When the cup was empty, the boy's head sagged against her shoulder and Caspian could tell his energy had been spent completely by the simple act of drinking. Lucy said something to him softly and reassuringly, but it was too low for Caspian to understand her words.

The boy moved his lips like he was trying to answer, but no sound came out, and after a moment, he stopped trying and just laid there, obviously still too exhausted to do anything else.

Lucy looked up at Caspian. "I wonder what his name is," she mused aloud, her gaze flickering first over the blonde boy and then over the dead boy beside her. Caspian wasn't sure what they were going to do with him; he really didn't want to leave the poor boy for the fish, but he didn't see what else they _could_ do with him.

The boy started to speak again, but the words just wouldn't come out. Lucy listened dutifully, however, encouraging him to keep trying. "What's your name?" she asked gently. "Can you tell me?"

He tried once or twice more, and then finally, a hoarse, cracked whisper rasped from his lips, but it was so faint, Caspian couldn't tell what he said. Lucy could, however, for she looked back and exulted, "Did you hear that?"

"No."

"Sam," Lucy told him. "His name's Sam." She grinned and then told Sam something softly.

Suddenly there was a violent fit of coughing from behind Caspian, and, stunned, he whirled around to see the dead boy - the boy they had thought was dead - coughing hard, some pale colour starting to come back into his cheeks. Caspian and Lucy stared at him with wide eyes for a moment, too shocked to do or say anything. The dark-haired boy _had_ been dead - of that, Caspian was sure. Both he and Lucy had checked for a pulse numerous times! How could he be alive now? The cordial was a wondrous healer, but even it could not bring people back to life. Perhaps the boy had just been so close to death that his pulse had been unregisterable by external searchers, and the cordial had been administered just in time. That, or Aslan wasn't ready for the boy to die just yet.

Sam stirred and shifted restlessly at the sound of the other boy's frenzied coughing, but did nothing else; he was probably still too weak and exhausted. Lucy laid Sam's head down gently on the deck and then she hurried over to the dark-haired boy, kneeling next to him with an expression of pure wonder. Caspian watched carefully, amazed himself.

Caine knew he should be dead. He _felt _dead. He had gotten enough water in his lungs to be dead. He knew he hadn't reached the surface in time. Those last minutes were still a blur - he had seen lights flickering behind his eyes before they closed, and then darkness. He remembered nothing after that, but he fancied that he had heard Sam's voice calling to him from somewhere deep and far away, but he knew that had just been his imagination. Sam was gone. Just like Caine, only in a different way. Sam was still alive. Caine…well, he wasn't sure if he was or not. For the longest time, he had been lying on an invisible floor, wreathed by a thin layer of water, and everything had been numb, cold, and lifeless, including Caine. He had just laid there, not sure if his eyes were opened or closed, or if his heart was beating or not…

So why wasn't he dead?

He had felt warmth after an eternity of lying on that invisible floor, warmth that had started out slow and then had spread like a wildfire, burning away the water that surrounded him and burning life into him like an eternal flame that could not be quenched.

And then he had started to cough. Deep, hacking coughs. Clearing out the last pools of water that lay around him and letting the fire burn brighter. It felt so good, too, letting the flames grow bigger and bigger, filling him up and getting rid of the cold, numbing water. So good….

Exhausted, Caine fell back against the invisible floor, letting the fire do its work. It could work without his help; he needed to rest now. He was so tired…

So…tired…

"I don't believe it," Caspian said again, looking in wonder down at the dark-haired boy, who had coughed for several minutes before slumping back against the warm deck, his chest now visibly moving up and down as he breathed. Lucy looked as if she was so happy, she might cry. "I don't either!" she laughed breathlessly. "I knew the cordial could heal grievous injuries, but I've never seen it do anything like this!"

"Lucy, when I went to get the water, I saw some hammocks down below deck," he said then. "They're going to need a lot of rest before they're anywhere near ready to get up. Why don't we take them down there?"

She nodded. "You'll have to carry them, though; I'm not strong enough."

Caspian leaned down and scooped up the dark-haired boy, carrying him easily across deck and down to the forecastle, where fourteen hammocks were strung and ready for use. Lucy accompanied him, bringing the empty cup with her to refill. While she was doing that, Caspian put the boy in a hammock and then went back to get Sam, who by now had opened his eyes once or twice, but was still too groggy and dizzy to keep them open for very long. Caspian laid him next to the other boy and waited for Lucy to get back.

Lucy came back presently and, lifting the dark-haired boy's head, poured a few drops of water into his mouth. He gave a small, desperate gasp, it seemed, but did not respond otherwise. Lucy smiled tenderly down at him, once more reminding Caspian of a mother tending her sick children.

Sam stirred and murmured something in the hammock next to the dark-haired boy's, and Lucy moved over to him, stroking his hair comfortingly and offering him a drink. Sam opened his eyes, but they were bleary and unfocused; Caspian could tell he wasn't quite aware of anything around him yet. "Sam?" Lucy asked soothingly. "Do you want some water?" Sam closed his eyes and repeated vaguely, "Water…?" Lucy took that as a yes, and she gave him a small drink. At that, Sam's eyes opened again and this time they were more focused. "Water," he rasped again, and this time it wasn't a question. Lucy smiled, encouraged.

After Sam had taken a few more sips, she gave some more to the other boy, and then sat down beside Caspian, a content expression on her face. That bothered Caspian, however, for there was still the fact that they didn't know where they were, or even if they were in Narnia. "Where do you think we are, Lucy?" he asked softly, his worried returning.

Lucy looked thoughtful. "I don't know," she said honestly. "Not in Narnia, I don't suppose, and I don't _think_ we're back in my world…I'm afraid I have no idea, Caspian."

"I was afraid of that," he said grimly. "How are we going to get back to Narnia when we don't even know _where _we are? We could be in some entirely different world that neither of us have ever been to before, but right now, we have no way of knowing…Maybe Sam knows. You can ask him when he's well, can't you?"

She brightened. "You're right! I bet he would know. They're probably from this place, wherever it is, though I must say, their clothes are a little strange. The ship looks like the _Dawn Treader_, so I guess I expected them to be like us…I don't know." Lucy shrugged and then suddenly looked miserable. "Poor Drinian and Edmund!" she said sadly. "They're probably worried sick, wondering what's happened to us! And Peter and Susan too. Oh, dear…"

Caspian laughed bitterly. "Well, she may be worried about you, but I know Susan won't be worried about me."

Lucy looked up at him kindly. "Oh, Caspian. I'm sure she doesn't hate you, like I know you think she does. How could she? You're so kind and such a good king. Maybe she just gets nervous around you. It's been a while since she's seen you, after all, and your last time together was when she…" Lucy trailed off into embarrassed silence, obviously not sure whether or not to bring up the kiss. After the Pevensies had helped rid Narnia of Caspian's usurping uncle Miraz, Aslan had sent them home via a large tree in the middle of the square near the castle. Before she left, however, Susan had kissed Caspian in front of the entire town and her siblings, causing quite a stir amongst the villagers. After all, he'd only been nineteen at the time. Now every time he saw her, Caspian remembered that too-short kiss and longed to kiss her again, but considering her current behaviour towards him, that would not be wise.

He sighed at the memory and Lucy apologised, "I'm sorry. I was just trying to be optimistic."

"I know, Lucy. It's all right," Caspian said, but he could tell she knew he didn't mean it. And he didn't. He couldn't be all right after being reminded of something like that, of Susan, beautiful, fearless, kind Susan…Would he ever find another like her? _Was_ there anyone else like her? Not in Caspian's experience. He had hoped, back before she kissed him, that she could somehow feel the same way about him that he did her, and the kiss had confirmed it. Or so he had thought. Now he was not sure. Perhaps it hadn't really meant anything to her. He ached to know. But now, he was…wherever he was, and she was back in Narnia. They were worlds apart, literally.

Seeing his torment, Lucy put a reassuring hand on his arm, but Caspian was not reassured. The only one that could reassure him about this situation would be Susan herself, and he did not even know how to get back to her. Not that she would be missing him, but…he could hope, couldn't he?

"I wonder," Lucy said presently, "Why we're here. It was all very sudden, like magic, but I didn't _feel_ any magic, like I usually do when we're pulled somewhere. I don't suppose that we've been called here; there's no one here except Sam and the other boy so far, and no land, either, and even if there was, we don't know where it is. Oh, I wish Peter, Susan, and Edmund were here! They'd know what to do."

_Peter would certainly act like he did, whether he really did or not_, Caspian thought grimly, glad that the eldest Pevensie had not been transported to…here along with him and Lucy. He would have been greatly relieved if Edmund was with them, though, as well as Susan. But as far as Peter was concerned, Caspian was glad to be away from him.

"And how are we going to sail?" Lucy wondered aloud. "There's only four of us, and until the boys get better, it'll be just you and me trying to…Oh, goodness, what a mess this is!" she exclaimed sadly.

Caspian agreed silently, wishing they were back in Narnia. Things were always so much simpler there.

The dark-haired boy began coughing loudly again, sounding hoarse and weak but desperate. Lucy got up to give him and Sam some more water, and Caspian watched dully, wondering why they were here and how on earth they could get back.

Caspian sighed once more. He _really_ missed Susan.


	4. A Family Affair  Part 1

_ Episode 4 'A Family Affair'_

Edmund, Susan, and Peter

Part 1

"Well," Edmund said, exchanging a shocked glance with Drinian. "That's not good."

Caspian and Lucy, his little sister, had just disappeared without any explanation or warning. Right in front of them, too. Just like the _Dawn Treader_. Caspian had been in the middle of a sentence! But where could they've gone? Back to Earth? If so, Edmund couldn't figure why Caspian would have been taken too; he'd never been needed in their world before, only they in his.

There were wild gasps and shouts from the gathered crowd of Narnian ship-hands and peasants, along with dozens of questions and shouts for explanations. Edmund had no idea what to say, and apparently, from his expression, neither did Drinian. But more importantly than that, what would Edmund tell Peter and Susan? _"Yeah, they just sort of vanished…not really sure where they went or how to get them back…" _Not likely! Peter would have Edmund's head for losing Lucy, his favourite sister, especially since they would have virtually no way to get her back. And Susan…Edmund shuddered at the mere thought of what she'd do to him for losing Caspian. Of course, she denied that she had any feelings for the Narnian king, but Edmund was not blind – he saw the looks that his older sister sneaked at Caspian, even if no one else did. What would she do when she found out that Caspian had poofed into nowhere?

"No, it's not, your Highness," Drinian agreed dryly, looking more dejected than Edmund had ever seen him. Now not only was the _Dawn Treader_ missing, but also Narnia's king and one of its queens! _Poor Drinian_, Edmund thought. _He must be miserable!_ "We'll find them, Drinian," Edmund assured the ship captain, sounding a bit more confident than he felt. After all, how does one find two people and a ship that disappeared into thin air? Edmund suddenly felt slightly sick. Would it even be possible to find them? What would happen if they couldn't? "Maybe…maybe we should tell Peter now," Edmund said faintly, not relishing the thought of telling his older brother – always the responsible, capable one – what had happened with the ship, Lucy, and Caspian.

As he and Drinian walked back down the dock, the people's voices and questions redoubled, making Edmund fear that they wouldn't be able to get through the crowds, but to his relief, the people made way for him and Drinian, apparently not willing to risk their luck in detaining their king. Their questions never ceased, however: "King Edmund, where have they gone?"

"What's happened? Will they come back?"

"Is it going to happen again?"

"I'm sorry, I don't know," Edmund said softly, eager to get away from all the interrogations and reminders that his sister and best friend were missing, perhaps forever.

When Edmund came in, Peter was at the table, poring over an old book, and Susan was looking out the window at the sea, looking lost in thought. Edmund stopped short, wishing he didn't have to be the one to do this.

Peter must have noticed his awkward presence, for he looked up and asked, "Everything all right, Ed? You look like you've seen a ghost." He came around the table to stand in front of Edmund and scrutinise him carefully. Susan did not even look his way.

"Um, well…" Edmund stammered, not able to meet Peter's eyes. "I…" What would Peter think of him now?

Peter raised his eyebrows, looking expectant. "Yes…?" he prompted gently.

Edmund sighed; he might as well get this over with. "Well, you see…" His next words came out in a rush, so eager was he to get them out of his mouth and not prolong his torture, "The _Dawn Treader_ went missing first – it disappeared into thin air, Drinian saw it – and then I went and got Caspian and Lucy came and we went down to the dock but we couldn't figure out where it went and Caspian was talking and then _he_ disappeared and then Lucy disappeared too and no one knows what happened to them, or where they are, or even if they're in Narnia, and I have no idea how we're going to find them…" Clamping his mouth shut, Edmund waited for Peter's response as if waiting for a blow.

Peter blinked a few times and then demanded, "What do you mean, they '_disappeared'_?"

"Exactly that," Edmund explained. "One second they were there and the next they weren't. I don't know how else to say it." Peter looked at him like he was crazy, and Edmund blushed defensively, knowing he probably sounded like it.

Peter whirled around and asked his sister, "Susan, do you hear this?"

She jerked to attention, looking bleary. "What? Sorry."

"Edmund claims the _Dawn Treader_, Lucy, and Caspian have vanished into thin air!" Peter scoffed, his blue eyes appraising Edmund harshly. Edmund sighed inwardly; of course Peter wouldn't believe him. What'd he been thinking? It seemed Edmund couldn't do anything right these days, not since they had come back to Narnia and Peter had decided he still had authority as High King, even though it was clearly Caspian's time to rule.

Susan's dark eyebrows narrowed. "Vanished?" she repeated, sounding disturbed. "What makes you say that, Ed? You aren't playing games again, are you?"

"No!" Edmund exclaimed in frustration. "Why would I pretend something like this? Ask Drinian, he saw it!" He motioned to the ship captain behind him, who, up till now, had remained silent and stony-faced. He spoke up now, to Edmund's relief: "I'm afraid what his Majesty says is true, King Peter, Queen Susan. The _Dawn Treader_ disappeared about a half hour ago, and like King Edmund said, he fetched King Caspian and Queen Lucy to the dock. We contemplated the reasons for the ship's disappearance for a few minutes, but then King Caspian and the little lady vanished along with it. Into thin air, like they were never there at all."

Peter scoffed again, but Susan went white. "Lucy _and_ Caspian?" she demanded. "They're both gone?"

Drinian nodded. Edmund could tell that she was very rattled by the ship captain's confirmation, for she sank slowly into a nearby chair, looking pale as death, her blue eyes searching for something in the air.

Seeing this, Peter interrogated her, "You don't actually believe this, do you, Su? They can't have just disappeared, whatever Drinian and Ed say – the only time we've ever done that is when we've come to Narnia, and we're already here. Aslan wouldn't have taken them to our world, not both of them, and there aren't any other worlds to _go_ to." Edmund wasn't so sure, but he kept his mouth shut; maybe Peter knew what he was talking about.

Susan echoed his unspoken thought. "And what if there are, Peter? What if there _are_ worlds we don't know about? What if Lucy and Caspian did get sent to one, for whatever reason? How would we find them? Lucy's only fifteen! What if something terrible happens to her? Or to Caspian! What _then_, Peter?" Her voice broke and she looked away, staring at the floor.

Peter started to reply, and then looked lost, as if he had just now realised that finding Caspian and Lucy might be a problem. Edmund bit his lip, wondering what Peter would suggest; surely there wasn't much they _could_ do. "I…" Peter said, his brow furrowing in thought. "I don't know. There must be some way to find them….But first of all – Drinian, take me down to where you last saw the Dawn Treader. I want to see that it's gone for myself." There was a bit of stubborn pride to Edmund's brother's voice, and Edmund knew that Peter wouldn't believe that he and Drinian had been telling the truth until he saw it with his own eyes.

Drinian nodded and Peter followed the ship captain from the room, leaving Edmund and Susan alone in the room. Edmund didn't know what to do; his sister looked miserable, he felt miserable, and they could do nothing more until Peter got back and had decided that he would believe them. Edmund had never felt so helpless in all his life.

So he went and sat down beside Susan. They sat in silence for a while, both lost in their own thoughts, until Edmund abruptly realised that his sister was crying quietly. Startled, he tried to comfort her, "We'll find them, Su, don't worry. Peter'll find a way. And if not, maybe Aslan will help us, like he always has before. He won't let anything bad happen to Lucy, you know that."

Susan wiped some of her tears away and sniffed sadly. "I know, Edmund. But just not knowing where they are…If anything happened to Lucy, I'd never be able to forgive myself. I know it's not my fault, but still. And Caspian…" Her voice broke again and she smiled ruefully. "_Caspian_…" Susan whispered again.

"You still like him, don't you?" Edmund asked softly.

"So much I can barely stand to look at him," she admitted remorsefully, wiping away some more tears. "I suppose he thinks I'm being awfully rude, but I'm just so afraid I'll say or do something completely daft, and-"

"So ignoring him is better?" Edmund asked in disbelief. To him, that made absolutely no sense at all. But then, what did he know of girls and their strange logics?

Susan shrugged. "Oh, I don't know, Ed. All I know right now is that we have to find him and Lucy. That's all that matters to me." She smiled through her tears at him, and, bemused, Edmund tried to smile back. It came out resembling more of a grimace. _Girls_, he scoffed inwardly.

Minutes passed in silence then as the two Pevensies waited for Peter and Drinian to return. Edmund boredly examined a map of Narnia hanging on the wall across from him, tracing the well-known islands and lands with his eyes. It had been so long – too long – since he had been to many of those places, though he had gotten to revisit quite a few of them a year ago when he had sailed with Lucy, Caspian, and Eustace on the _Dawn Treader_, like Doorn, Felimath, the Lone Islands, and some new ones, including Aslan's Country, that they had discovered on their voyage. Edmund longed to feel the salty breeze on his face and feel the wind in his hair again.

Peter burst into the room, Drinian not far behind. Looking breathless, Peter came over to Susan and Edmund, saying excitedly, "It's true; I saw the _Dawn Treader_'s dock myself, and it's nowhere to be found."

"I told you so," Edmund said pointedly.

"At any rate," Peter went on, ignoring Edmund, "I have absolutely no idea how we're going to find them. At all." He looked annoyed at having to admit that, but he said it all the same. Edmund was sort of proud of him. But only a little.

"Peter!" Susan exclaimed in dismay.

"What? How am I supposed to know how to find them when I don't even know what happened to them?" he asked fairly. Edmund thumped his head back against the wall, wanting to start the day all over again – maybe then, this wouldn't have happened. What would happen if Mum ever found out about this? Or worse – if they had to go back to Earth without Lucy! Edmund shuddered at the thought.

Peter sank down wearily at the table, looking like he had suddenly aged a few years. "I just wish Aslan was here," he said wearily. "He's know what to do." He gestured helplessly to the air. "I don't even know where to start! They could be anywhere…."

"And imprisoned, tortured, or dead," Susan muttered ill-temperedly.

"Su," Edmund admonished, the thought scaring him. She shrugged in an _I'm-just-saying_ way, which only pushed his temper farther, but he didn't let it show; getting angry with his remaining sister wouldn't help or fix anything.

So the Pevensies sat in silence, each racking their brain to try and figure out a way to find Caspian and Lucy, but even after nearly an hour of suggestions, ideas, and furious brainstorming, they came up with the same, exact thing: nothing.

Vanessa flipped tiredly through the _Voyage of the Dawn Treader_, examining the various passages that described the four Pevensie kids. Her favourites were Susan and Edmund, and she thought it would be so cool to get to meet them, but so far, that wasn't happening. Her snap-teleportation powers apparently didn't work with books. But hey, it was a brain injury – not everything could be expected to turn out perfectly, right?

So to pass the time and not dwell on the fact that she was brain-injured, Vanessa decided to read aloud; since she couldn't get into Narnia, reading about her favourite characters was about as close as she was going to get. Vanessa read a few lines about Edmund, Susan, and Peter, respectively, dreaming about what it would be like to actually meet them. Would they look like they did in the movies? Or would the ones in the books look totally different? She hoped they were the movie-versions.

Just for grins, Vanessa snapped one more time, wishing with all her little heart that she could be in Narnia – or, even better, on the _Dawn Treader_ – with Edmund, Susan, and Peter Pevensie.

There was a flicker this time.

Startled, Vanessa barely had time to see the purple flicker that darted through her room before it was gone. It was so fast she wasn't sure that she hadn't imagine it out of wishful thinking. She studied her room for a long time, watching for any more purple streaks in the air, but she saw none.

So she shrugged and kept reading, unconcerned.

Sam's head hurt.

Groaning, he put a hand to his aching temples, massaging them slowly and trying to work out the throbbing, but that did not help, so he eventually dropped his hand and stared up at the ceiling blankly.

The ceiling. Sam's brow furrowed. He was inside. How had he gotten back in the ship?

Sam couldn't remember. The details of what'd happened before he'd blacked out were fuzzy and indistinct; they were no help, therefore. He thought he remembered a voice – the voice of a girl – faintly, but that was stupid; there was no one but him and Caine out here.

_Caine_!

Sam sat bolt upright in his…hammock? What was he doing in a hammock? Momentarily distracted, Sam examined the woven cloth under him curiously, running his fingers over the rough fabric in wonder. It didn't look like it had been used very often, and it was impeccably clean, which was a welcome surprise to Sam, especially after almost two years in the FAYZ, where nothing was clean anymore; few things were even close to sanitary to use. But this hammock…it was nice. Comfortable. Back in the FAYZ, kids would have killed – literally – for something like this hammock. Sam's hand closed around the fabric, feeling instinctively protective, even though he knew there was no one to steal the hammock from him here.

He noticed another above him, and more all around him. Sam counted silently – there were thirteen hammocks in all, including his, and he vaguely wondered why such a small ship that had no crew had so many hammocks. Surely there were better things the space could've been used for. Not that Sam was complaining.

Sam jerked in surprise when he suddenly became aware of the gentle sounds of someone breathing beside him. Looking to his right, he saw that he had not noticed this hammock before, and that there was someone lying in it, fast asleep.

Caine.

Stunned, Sam gaped at his brother for a long while, unsure. Caine Soren, his greatest enemy, his twin brother, the brother he had almost died trying to save, was _alive_. It'd been one thing to hope that Caine might live through his strange power malfunction, but to see him actually still alive and know that he still had those very dangerous powers…well, Sam didn't know what the heck to make of that.

He reached out and touched one finger to Caine's shoulder, feeling like a five-year-old who was making sure something was real. To his partial disappointment, partial relief, Caine Soren was real all right, and, Sam guessed, real lucky to be alive.

Sam wondered again how they _were_ alive. His last memory – albeit a vague, indistinct one – was of trying to climb the ship's ladder and then everything going black. Wouldn't he have fallen back into the water? And Caine had been on his back….Sam thought. He wasn't sure, but he seemed to remember his brother being on his back. Everything was still such a blur.

He jerked his hand away from Caine's shoulder as he heard footsteps on the stairs, freezing in panic. Who else was here? Astrid, maybe? His heart raced at the thought. Maybe she had been poofed in here – wherever 'here' was – and she'd been the one that had saved Sam and Caine. Maybe not, though; Sam wasn't sure Astrid would've saved Caine. She probably would've left him to drown.

A girl came into view, but to Sam's disappointment, it wasn't Astrid. This girl had hair that was brown and a little past shoulder-length, and she wore a strange, medieval-fair-type dress that was blue and brown. She carried a book in one hand and a tray of food in the other. Sam cocked an eyebrow, wondering what kind of crazy place he and his brother had landed in.

When she noticed his eyes on her, she brightened noticeably and hurried over, setting the tray of food down on the floor, but not before Sam had time to see what was on it: bread, cheese, an onion, soup, and a cup of water. His mouth watered at the mere sight of such luxurious food, and his stomach rumbled softly.

"You're awake!" the girl said happily, blue eyes sparkling with excitement as she looked at him. Sam liked her immediately; such cheerfulness and friendliness had become increasingly hard to come by as the FAYZ wore on back in Perdido Beach, and such sentiments were very welcome to Sam, no matter who they came from. "I was beginning to think you'd sleep for the rest of your life, Sam," the girl teased, reaching down and picking up the bread. She handed it to Sam, who snatched it from her and began devouring the food with the wild abandon of a starving person. Even though his body had been physically restored, Sam still felt like he was starving; he probably hadn't had food in days. The girl watched him wolf down the bread with surprised amusement, saying with a short laugh, "Easy. I know you're hungry, but you don't want to upset your stomach and start throwing up."

Sam paused, but decided he didn't care. He finished the bread in a few more bites, and then asked hoarsely, "Can I have some water?"

The girl smiled warmly and handed Sam the cup. He downed it in a few large gulps, his stomach aching a little with the speed of which he was eating his food. But Sam didn't care; he'd been starving for almost two years, and this was the best food he'd had since before the FAYZ started.

Then a thought struck him. "How'd you know my name?" he asked the girl suspiciously.

She smiled again, but his doubts refused to be dissipated completely. What if she was some trick of the gaiaphage, like Nerezza had been? Or what if she was just part of the illusion? Sam was leery of her either way.

"You told me," she answered. "A few days ago, when we first rescued you. I don't know if you remember or not, but I asked you your name and you said Sam, so that's what we've been calling you."

"'_We'_?" Sam echoed, doubts persisting. "Who's 'we'?"

"Caspian and me," she said, and then, eyes flying wide, she exclaimed, "Oh! I haven't introduced myself! I'm sorry. I'm Lucy Pevensie." And she held out her hand for him to shake.

Still suspicious, Sam eyed her hand carefully. What if she had some strange power and was just waiting for him to take her hand to use it? Maybe she was like Diana, who could gauge freaks' powers by touching their hands. If Lucy was anything like that, the last thing he wanted to do was let her know his power; the surprise of it might be useful if he ran into any trouble.

Lucy looked puzzled, but she finally dropped her hand, taking the hint that he wouldn't be shaking her hand. She was silent for a moment, and then Lucy said softly and earnestly, "You don't need to be afraid of me, Sam. I don't know why you should be, but I can tell that you are…Please don't be. I'm not going to hurt you, nor will Caspian."

Sam said nothing. He'd heard that one before. He'd have to wait a while before he could decide if this Lucy girl was trustworthy or not, and while he was fine with waiting, he was still hungry. "Could I have some more food?" he asked meekly.

Lucy chuckled, but she handed him the cheese off the platter. "All right, but don't eat all the food on this ship. The other boy'll need some too, when he wakes." She moved over to stand in front of Caine's hammock, and she gently brushed some of his brother's sweaty hair from his forehead, reminding Sam, in a way, of how Mary Terrafino used to treat her little kids at the day-care before she took the jump. That was not a very comforting thought to Sam, considering how Mary had ended up and that this was his brother, not some little kid, that was being taken care of by Lucy.

"I wonder what his name is," Lucy said, more to herself than to Sam.

"That's Caine," he answered through a mouthful of cheese. "He's my brother."

Lucy looked up at him, surprised. "Your brother?" She glanced back at Caine and then at Sam, and he could tell she was comparing their faces. "You don't look much alike," she said doubtfully.

Sam shrugged. "Fraternal twins; we're not supposed to look alike." And he returned his focus back on the delicious, oh-so-wonderful cheese in his hands.

"Twins!" he heard Lucy say with a small laugh. "Imagine that…I never would've guessed."

"Huh," Sam grunted. "That's what I said."

Lucy and Sam were silent for a while, Sam busy savouring every last crumb of the cheese, and Lucy going back and forth to fill up the cup with water, giving some to Sam and some to Caine, making sure that they both had enough. The other person she'd mentioned, Caspian, was nowhere to be seen, which Sam found a little odd, but decided not to press the matter. It wasn't like he really cared, anyway.

Once Sam had eaten all the food on Lucy's tray and drank four cupfuls of water, he leaned back in his hammock, hand behind his head, thoroughly satisfied in almost every way. The only thing that was missing now was Astrid…

"Sam, what is this place?" Lucy asked him from where she sat leaning against one of the mast poles (Sam didn't know what they were called).

He frowned. "I thought you knew. I figured…I mean, I thought you were from this place, wherever it is. You have funny clothes that kinda match this weird boat, so…You really don't know where we are?"

Looking hopeless, Lucy shook her head sadly. "I wish I did. Peter and Susan and Edmund must be so worried about us…It's been almost three days."

Curious, Sam pressed, "Three days since…?"

"Since we appeared here." She gestured about her aimlessly, referring to the while general place. "The _Dawn Treader_ disappeared first, and we went down to the docks to see for ourselves. Edmund thought it was magic that made it disappear, but…I don't know. Maybe it was. Anyway, Caspian was saying something to Drinian, the captain of the _Dawn Treader_, and then the next moment, we were standing on the deck of this ship, in the middle of nowhere." She sighed despairingly, looking so dejected that Sam longed to give her a hug. But considering he barely knew her and he didn't know if he could trust her yet, that would be a bad idea.

However…her story sounded shockingly similar to his and Caine's. In the middle of doing something important. No warning. Standing on the deck of some black ship with a weird purple sail. No land in sight. Could their stories somehow be connected? Sam wondered if maybe they were. Excited, he told her, "That's what happened to us. We were in the middle of a fight, and then I just woke up on the ship with Caine. I don't really know what happened in between that, though; I was knocked out, but-"

"What?" Lucy interrupted, looking distressed. "Why were you knocked out, Sam? What happened?" Sam wanted to laugh; she sounded like she actually cared. But even if she was pretending, it made him feel kinda good that she should express such concern on his part.

"Caine and I were fighting; nothing drastic," he said, waving his hand nonchalantly. On the contrary, Sam knew he was lucky to have survived that fight. If things had gone normally, as they should've, he _wouldn't_ have survived. Shuddering, Sam stole a glance at Caine, who, while asleep, looked so innocent and vulnerable that it was almost hard to imagine that he had slammed Sam into walls, broken every bone in his body, and laughed while doing it.

Lucy looked disturbed. "Why were you fighting, Sam?"

Feeling awkward, both because he knew Lucy had never even heard of the FAYZ and because she didn't know what Caine was really like, Sam explained grudgingly, "Something…happened, back where we come from, and Caine and I are on different sides. We're the…leaders of the two groups that've emerged from the disaster, I guess you could say. We disagree on everything. We have to protect our groups from each other's. Everything's a battle between us."

Lucy looked at him with a sorrowful expression, one that also displayed faint incomprehension, as if she couldn't understand how brothers could be so set against each other. She also looked a little bit frustrated. Distressed at her expression and feeling an overwhelming need to justify himself and his actions, Sam went on hurriedly, "You don't know what he's like, Lucy. He's sadistic and bloodthirsty; he'd do anything for power and glory, even kill me. There's no line he's not willing to cross to get what he wants. He had me whipped, he…" Then Sam realised he was blaming everything on Caine, leaving none for himself. But that was how it really was, he argued with himself. Sam only wanted what was good for the kids of the FAYZ, but wasn't he just as ambitious as Caine as far as the lines he was willing to cross to make sure those kids stayed safe? He had willingly agreed to the fight to the death between him and Caine…He had lied to Astrid, but to protect her. He knew that was a weak argument; he had killed just as many kids as Caine, if not more. He was just as ruthless, though not intentionally. He was a murderer too. Putting his head in his hands, Sam felt sick. Maybe he was just as bad as Caine. Maybe they were more alike than they had originally thought.

Sam jerked in surprise when he felt Lucy hug him comfortingly. He pulled away from her, staring in shock. Lucy looked surprised too, though he guessed her astonishment was because of his withdrawal. Eyeing her and seeing the innocence in her expression, Sam concluded that she had seen his turmoil and had felt bad to him; she hadn't meant anything by the simple gesture.

He smiled wryly, suddenly aware that he still had no shirt; he had pulled it off before diving in to save Caine. But from what he had already gathered about Lucy, she probably hadn't even noticed. "Sorry," he apologised. "I'm not really used to people hugging me."

Lucy nodded apologetically. "I'm sorry too; I should have asked first, shouldn't I have? You just looked so sad…"

Sam laughed out loud; imagine being asked if you could be given a hug! "Nah, it's fine," he reassured her, not wanting this gentle girl to be distraught about his reaction to her unexpected show of sympathy. "I just wasn't expecting it, is all."

Lucy smiled tentatively, apparently convinced he meant that it was all right.

Caine stirred beside Sam, shifting in his hammock and coughing weakly. Lucy got the cup, still half full of water, and put it to Sam's brother's lips. Caine responded immediately to the water, giving a small gasp and lifting his head a little, as if to get as close to the water source as possible. Lucy smiled tenderly at him, stroking his black hair gently. Sam got a weird feeling in his stomach, watching her care for his brother; surely Caine – of all people - didn't deserve such kind treatment! But then, Lucy didn't know what he was like; maybe once she did, she wouldn't treat Caine like that anymore. Sam stopped his thoughts in surprise – why did he care how Caine got treated by this girl he barely knew? Surely Lucy had treated Sam the same way before he had woken. Sam also had a feeling, deep down, that nothing Lucy learned of Caine would change her attitude towards him.

Shaking his head at himself, Sam smiled sadly, watching Lucy and his sleeping brother.

"Do you have any clothes I could wear?" Sam asked then, realising that he couldn't go traipsing about the ship shirtless. Maybe if it had just been him and Caine, but with a girl around, Sam felt distinctly more uncomfortable going without a shirt.

Lucy thought for a moment and then said doubtfully, "I'm not sure what will be available, or even if there's any clothes on this ship, but I'll see what I can find." She handed Sam the cup of water she'd been giving to Caine, surprising him.

"You're going right now?"

"Yes," she said, eyeing him carefully. "Didn't you want me to?"

"Oh, well….that's fine. Sure," Sam said lamely. He not expected her to jump to try and find him some clothes, but then, he'd been used to the belligerent and whiny kids of the FAYZ. Lucy was eager to help in whatever way she could, it seemed.

Lucy chuckled at his confusion. "Just give him small sips once every few minutes. Not too much; be careful." And she left, leaving Sam alone with his greatest – and fast asleep – enemy.

After a little while of looking, Lucy found Caspian. He had been rifling through a large chest in the captain's cabin, charts and maps and some other things strewn all about him on the floor. Books lay open beside him, like he had flipped through them, found them boring, and forgotten to close them. He didn't notice her come in.

Lucy watched him for a little while, noticing how weary Caspian seemed. He sat back on his heels, clutching a map that looked blank, and said something under his breath. It sounded like a curse, but she couldn't have been sure.

"Caspian," she said softly.

He started and then turned around quickly, looking surprised to see her. "Oh, Lucy," he said. "I didn't see you."

She smiled and came forward, kneeling down beside him and looking at the map in his hands. It was indeed blank, with only the curving border around the edges. There was a compass at the bottom, and a key, but there was nothing to be seen land-wise. "They're all like this," Caspian informed her grimly. "No land, no nothing. Just water, water as far as the eye can see…"

"Well, then thank goodness we're on a ship," Lucy said, turning to rifle through some of the other maps. She saw, to her dismay, that Caspian was exactly right – there was nothing on _any_ of the maps. "How depressing!" Lucy said, sitting back on her heels and looking dismally at Caspian. He lifted an eyebrow in agreement, looking none too happy.

Lucy picked up one of the books beside him, and, flipping through the entire thing, saw that it was completely blank. There was no title, either. "Strange…" she murmured, setting the book down again. "Oh!" she said then, "Sam woke up. I asked him if he knew where we are, but he didn't. He said that he and Caine – that's the other boy – were in the middle of a fight when they got transported here. No warning, just like us."

"Really?" Caspian sounded interested in that. "So they just appeared here as well?"

"Yes."

"Hmm…" Thoughtfully, Caspian picked up the blank book and then the map, looking at each of them with narrowed eyes. Lucy could tell that he was thinking intently, and she waited excitedly, thinking maybe he had thought of an explanation for why they were here. "Caspian…?" she asked, bursting with curiosity.

"I'm thinking…maybe that this is a new world," he said at length. "There's no land – yet – and no books have been written. They're all blank…If this was an established world, there'd be books and maps and cities…but there's not." Getting excited, he went on, "Maybe someone created this world and brought us here to live in it."

Lucy wrinkled her nose. "What good would four people be to a new world? You'd need more than that, wouldn't you, to create a new world? And land, too…I mean, we can't just float out at sea for the rest of our lives."

Caspian deflated. That made sense. Of course she was right; it was silly of him to think that. What purpose would there be in bringing only four people to a new world? Especially one with no land. He shrugged hopelessly. "I don't know; I thought that might be an explanation."

Lucy put a hand on his arm. "And it might be right; we just don't know yet."

He smiled ruefully and then asked, "Did that other boy ever wake up?"

"Caine? No, not yet. He's still unconscious, I think. Sam's tending him right now. Oh! That reminds me! Have you found any clothes around here that Sam and Caine might wear? Sam was asking about it."

Caspian got up and searched through the big chest again, and, finding nothing, he went on to rummage through some of the other rooms adjoining that one. Lucy waited patiently for his return, looking at the blank map and wishing hard that they could find some land eventually; she didn't want to live at sea for the rest of her life. That is, if they couldn't find a way back to Narnia.

He came back with two shirts in his hands and gave them to Lucy. "I don't know if they'll fit them, but I think it'll have to do."

Lucy unfolded the shirts, admiring the blue and green fabrics. "Oh, these are lovely," she said, fingering the faint patterns that adorned the sleeve cuffs. "They look so very Narnian, though, don't you think?" She glanced up at Caspian, looking up at him contemplatively.

Caspian shrugged, tired. He wished they could figure out how to get home, or at least where they were. He missed Susan more and more every day, even though he knew she probably was so wrapped up with Lucy's disappearance that she hadn't even noticed that he was gone. Running his fingers through his black hair, Caspian sighed heavily. Why had Aslan brought them here? What was there for them to do in this place? They had saved Sam and the other boy, yes, but somehow, Caspian didn't think they had been brought here just for that.

Lucy came and hugged Caspian suddenly, saying softly, "I wish we could go home, Caspian…What if we're stuck here forever?"

Pity washed over Caspian, and he reassured her as best he could, "We won't be here forever, Lucy. There's probably some task we have to do here, and I'm sure once we figure out what it is and get it done, Aslan will send us home."

"I sure hope so."

When Caine awoke, the first thing he saw was the face of a girl. She was sitting beside him and she didn't notice him wake, but he was so shocked that he couldn't say anything at all. First of all, she was beautiful. She had hair that was a very pretty shade of brown and curled down her back, and two sapphire eyes were set above her freckled cheeks. The girl wore a weird, medieval-type dress that was blue and brown, and Caine thought he had never seen a more lovely person in all his life. Even Diana paled in comparison to this girl.

"And the psycho awakes," Caine heard Sam say dryly from somewhere close by, and, turning his head, he saw his brother lounging casually against a tall mast-pole-like-thing towards the middle of the room. Caine glanced around briefly, realising that they must be under the deck of the weird ship they had poofed onto earlier.

The girl looked over at him and smiled, Sam's comment alerting her to his awakening. Caine could feel the heat pour into his cheeks as she looked at him, and he hoped it didn't show, but he didn't think she'd be able to see it in the dim light.

"You're awake at last," the girl said warmly, catching Caine off-guard. Was that…relief he'd heard in her voice? And compassion? Instantly on guard, Caine was suspicious. What if she was some kind of powerful mutant and she was only pretending to be nice to him so that she could attack him later? Caine narrowed his eyes at her, mistrustful and leery.

The girl must have noticed, for her mouth quirked into a little frown. "Now don't look at me like that, Caine," she reprimanded gently. "I've already told Sam – I'm not going to hurt you, and neither will Caspian. You've nothing to fear from us. All I want is to help you."

Caine doubted that, but he said nothing, still cynical of this strange, beautiful girl who had apparently already talked at length with Sam. Sam, in fact, jumped in to support her: "She's right, Caine. I've been awake for two days, and she and Caspian have never once tried to attack us or anything. They're not like the people in the FAYZ," he continued, lowering his voice. "We can trust them."

Caine squinted at Sam, partially annoyed that his brother was still alive. Hearing Sam's testimony that the girl was to be trusted only made him want to distrust her more, and he knew that only the girl herself could convince him that she could be trusted, and that it would take a long time for her to do so; Caine had learned not to trust anyone, no matter how hard they tried to convince him that they were reliable. Everyone had betrayed him at one time or another, especially Sam, Diana, and his mother. They were the ones Caine hated most. He privately hoped that this girl would prove to be mostly trustworthy, because it would be a shame to have to hate her and get rid of her.

"What's your name?" he rasped, shocked at how hoarse and scratchy his voice sounded.

"Lucy Pevensie," she said, smiling gently at him before leaning down to get something. She straightened, holding a cup in her hand, and asked, "Would you like some water, Caine? You sound pretty hoarse."

Caine flicked his gaze over to Sam, wondering if it would be safe to drink what she offered him. Sam, seeing his expression, rolled his eyes and snapped, "You've been drinking it for the past four days, Caine; it's water – it's not gonna kill you."

He debated on whether or not to trust Sam for a while, biting his lip and weighing his odds, but finally, he decided he was too thirsty to care. But when he reached out to take the cup from Lucy, Caine realised his muscles were still too weak and he had to let his arm drop back to his side. The mere movement had exhausted him completely. Annoyed and embarrassed, Caine snapped, "I'm not strong enough yet. You'll have to give it to me." His cheeks were still flushed, but this time, it was from humiliation; he hated appearing weak, especially in front of pretty girls.

Lucy smiled at him reassuringly. "That's all right," she assured him, and she slipped her hand behind his head and lifted it up a little. Caine flinched at her touch.

She put the cup to his lips and Caine gulped down the cool water greedily, feeling like he would never get enough, but he was also careful; the drought in the FAYZ had taught him that when he had water, he should save as much as he could for later. But this wasn't the FAYZ.

When the cup was empty, Caine collapsed back against the hammock he was lying in, exhausted but feeling better. Lucy put her hand on his forehead – checking his temperature, he presumed – and he was relieved when she declared him fever-free. Caine had always hated being sick; it wasted so much time.

"We're going to let you rest now, all right?" Lucy said, adjusting the thin, blanket that lay over Caine in a motherly way. Caine was surprised at how relaxed he felt around her, but that concerned him, too; it could have been part of her mutant powers, if she had any. Too bad Diana wasn't there to read her. But, Caine decided, he would rather have Lucy around than Diana; Diana was boring to him by now, but Lucy was new and interesting, even if she was a possible freak. Either way, there was something about her that drew Caine. He would have to be careful.

Lucy got up and said to Caine's brother, "Sam, let's let him rest for now, okay? We can go swimming again or something in the meantime. Have you seen the sky today? It's absolutely gorgeous."

Sam laughed. "No, I haven't spent much time looking at the sky, Lucy, sorry. But swimming sounds nice. This weird shirt you gave me gets really hot sometimes."

"I know; I'm sorry," Lucy said, sounding sincerely apologetic. "But it's all there was."

Sam chuckled again, which grated on Caine's nerves. "Relax, Lucy; I was just being dramatic. It's fine. C'mon; we gotta let the psycho get his beauty sleep." As he walked by Caine's hammock, Sam grinned at his brother spitefully, making Caine wish he was strong enough to give Sam a good telepathic punch.

"Sam," Lucy berated, casting an apologetic look at Caine.

"Oh, don't defend _him_," Sam said, an edge creeping into his voice. "He's used to that and worse, trust me. It's not like he has feelings, anyway."

Caine bristled instinctively, and Lucy noticed. "You're upsetting him, Sam," she said chidingly. "He's not going to get better if you keep riling him up. Come on now, before I have to call Caspian in to drag you out." She said to Caine before they left, "If you need anything, call for Caspian. He'll hear you." She smiled again, and then she and Sam left, leaving Caine alone in the quiet room.

All he could think about was the beautiful girl who had just left to go swimming with his brother.


	5. A Family Affair Part 2

Part 2

Lucy tried not to stare at Sam.

They were swimming in the waters around the ship, and the salty breezes were ruffling their hair gently, and the warm sun was shining brightly over their heads, making for very good swimming weather. Lucy had found a plain dress in one of the trunks that she wore for swimming – it was just a simple dark blue dress, with no patterns and flourishes like her other one, and it was one she didn't mind getting soaked with salt water. Sam, however, went shirtless, and while Lucy had been swimming with her brothers before, this was entirely different. She was extremely embarrassed by the fact that she kept wanting to look at Sam, but she figured it was normal – Susan had told her it was, anyway. Even if it was, it still embarrassed Lucy to no end, so she did her absolute best to keep her eyes either on the cool, rippling waters around her or on the pale, beautiful sky above them. She could tell Sam had no idea about her uncomfortable predicament, and for that she was grateful.

"So where did you come from?" Sam asked. "Before we came here."

"I lived in London," she told him. "With my brothers and sister. We went to live with Professor Kirke for a while during the war, and then with our Aunt Alberta and Uncle Harold, but we're back at home now-"

"Wait," Sam interrupted. "The war? What war? The War on Terror?"

Confused, Lucy asked, "What's that? I've never heard of that war…"

Sam eyed her strangely for a moment, making her blush, even though she honestly had no idea what the War on Terror was; if they had learned about it in school, she'd totally missed that lesson. Perhaps it was an American war that the teacher had not bothered to teach them about, but she doubted it.

"The war in Afghanistan," Sam said slowly. "The war that's going on right now, and has been for, like, ten years or something like that. Have you been living under a rock?"

Still mortified, Lucy shrugged weakly. "No, but I've never heard of a war called that. I didn't even know America was having problems with Afghanistan, Sam."

Sam gave a disbelieving laugh, and then a strange look came over his face. "Lucy, what year was it back in London?"

"1943," she answered, growing alarmed as Sam's eyes widened. "Sam? What is it?"

"Um…" he said, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "You sure?"

"Yes, of course," she said impatiently. "What's bothering you?"

"It was 2011 back in California before I came here, Lucy," Sam said gravely, windmilling his arms a few times to stay afloat.

She gaped at him, stunned. "2011?" she demanded, unable to believe it. "How is that possible, Sam? It was 1943, I swear it!"

Sam shrugged nonchalantly, though his blue eyes were shadowed. Lucy searched for any signs that he might just be playing around, but she saw none, which concerned her greatly. If Sam wasn't lying – and _if_ what he said was really true – then what kind of place was this, really? If what Sam said was true, then it had brought three worlds and three different time periods together into one place, defying all the rules of the world. _Was _something like that even possible? It made Lucy's brain hurt just to think about how that might work.

"Incredible," she said softly, tipping her head back to look up at the creamy sky, pushing all the strange thoughts of alternate times and worlds from her head and focusing instead on the warmth of the sun on her skin, the lapping of the small waves against her collarbone, and the little, warm sun of joy that had coalesced inside of her.

They were silent for a while, enjoying the water and each other's company. It was the third time they had gone swimming, mostly because there was little to do on the ship and on hot days, it was wonderful to be able to just jump off the elegant boat and into the crystalline waters below. The only thing that was missing now were her brothers and sister.

"So what do you think of Caine so far?" Sam asked a while later, a tangible edge to his voice. Lucy looked at him in sympathy, knowing that Sam disliked his twin brother greatly. She didn't know why, honestly; Caine had seemed perfectly normal to her, if only a little bit mistrustful. But then, Sam had been at first as well. He was warming up to her now, Lucy knew, and he and Caspian were pretty good friends already, too. They liked each other well enough, at any rate, and for that, she was glad; it would have made for a miserable time if the boys had decided they didn't like each other. She was unsure about how Caine and Caspian would react to each other, if what Sam said about Caine was at all true. Lucy hoped it wasn't; she would hate it if Caine turned out to be as selfish and cruel as Sam had made him out to be.

"I like him well enough so far," Lucy said, determined that she wouldn't judge Caine until she had seen for herself what he was really like. Sam have a disbelieving laugh at her statement and assured her, "Just wait 'till you get to know him; you'll hate him just as much as I do then."

Sad, Lucy said softly, "I don't hate anyone, Sam."

"You'll hate Caine," he replied stubbornly.

Lucy pressed her lips into a thin line and didn't reply, knowing it would turn into a full argument if she kept on, and she didn't want to argue with Sam. He apparently sensed her hesitation, for he relented gently, "Right, sorry. I should know by now that that's true enough; I don't think you're capable of hating anyone, Lucy." His mouth tipped up in a wry smile, making Lucy blush as she realised how handsome she thought he was when he smiled like that. "But I'm warning you," he went on, "Caine's not the saint you think he is."

"I'll judge that for myself, Sam."

He laughed, the edges of his eyes crinkling as he did. "All right then!" he exclaimed. "You just wait. Let Caine show you what kind of monster he really is, and then we'll see what you think."

Lucy smiled back, knowing that Caine would have to be very horrible indeed for her initial opinion of him to change. But then, she realised, stranger things had happened.

"Wait, wait, wait," Skandar said, holding up a hand to motion for Samantha to stop. "You think you saw Vanessa Talydon in my _room_? How the heck would she have gotten there, Samantha? I would have known if my best friend had come over to my house."

Samantha, Skandar's ten-year-old sister, had come streaking down the stairs a few minutes ago, screaming that Vanessa – Skandar's best friend – was in Skandar's room, and that she had disappeared magically a moment later, like she had never been there at all. Skandar felt that Samantha had been watching too many horror movies or something, and that they were all still floating about in her brain, making her imagine things. But Samantha was insistent – she was completely, 100% convinced that Vanessa Talydon had been in Skandar's room a few minutes ago.

"Yes!" Samantha said impatiently, her cheeks flushed. "She was there; I saw her, Skandar! She was right there!"

"And she magically poofed away?" Skandar asked, wiggling her fingers in an abracadabra motion.

Samantha pouted at her, looking angry and hurt. "I'm not crazy, Skandar. I _saw her_."

"Uh huh. And I'm the grand potentate of the Democratic Republic of the Congo."

"What?" Samantha looked confused.

"Never mind." Skandar waved her hand dismissively. "Sammie, people – especially Vanessas – can't just mysteriously appear in people's bedrooms and then poof themselves out again. It's not logically, or mathematically, or grammatically correct, okay? That's not how the world works. Therefore, you must have imagined her," Skandar concluded, crossing her arms and making perfectly logical sense to herself.

Samantha threw her arms up in despair. "Why don't you just call and ask her?"

Skandar doubled over laughing. "Call and ask Vanessa if she poofed into my room and back out again when you came in? No way! Then she'll think _I'm_ crazy, Sammie! If anyone's gonna call her, it's gonna be you, honey."

Her sister sighed dramatically and muttered, "But she's _your_ friend…"

"_You're_ the one who thinks you saw her in my room," Skandar reminded her pointedly.

Samantha groaned and then pulled out her phone, scrolling through her contacts. Skandar couldn't believe she was going to actually call Vanessa; Samantha must've thought she really saw Vanessa in Skandar's room. Skandar shook her head; what was up with her sister? Maybe she was starting to hallucinate or something. Either way, Skandar would have to call Vanessa herself later and they would have a good laugh about it.

"Put it on speaker," Skandar advised, still chuckling. She wanted to hear this.

Samantha obliged grudgingly. The phone rang a few times, and then they heard Vanessa's voice say warily, "Hello?"

"Hey, Vanessa. It's Samantha," Skandar's sister said, sounding nervous.

There was a long silence, which Skandar found intriguing. Then, Vanessa said, "Yeah, and?"

"Um…" Samantha stuttered. "Well, the thing is…I mean…I…Were you in Skandar's room a few minutes ago?" Skandar had to cover her mouth to keep from cracking up, but it was hard to supress her laughter. How daft could Samantha get, honestly? Thinking that Vanessa Talydon had poofed in and out of Skandar's room, honestly!

So, naturally, Skandar was shocked when Vanessa didn't laugh. Instead, her friend said to Samantha, "Is Skandar there, Samantha?"

Surprised, Samantha looked over at Skandar, who shrugged, curious but also puzzled; why hadn't Vanessa started laughing like Skandar had expected her to? Why was she asking if Skandar was there instead of answering the question? Skandar motioned for the phone. "Um, yeah, she's here," Samantha replied, handing the phone over to her sister.

Skandar took it and darted up to her room, closing the door, locking it, and settling in on her bed before saying to Vanessa, "Craziness, right? I mean, seriously. What's she _thinking_?" She laughed, expecting Vanessa to laugh with her, but when she didn't, Skandar stopped and demanded, "Vanessa? Are you still there?"

"…Yeah."

"Why aren't you laughing at my daft sister with me?" There was another long silence, which made Skandar a little worried. This was getting really weird now….

"Vanessa…?"

Still, her friend didn't answer. "Look," Skandar said then, getting tired of waiting, "Are you gonna answer me or not? I've asked you, like, five questions, and you haven't answered but one of them. I-"

"Skandar, I was in your room a few minutes ago."

Stunned into silence, she said nothing. Skandar blinked a few times, and then laughed, saying, "Nice one, Vanessa. But there's no way I'm falling for that one. It's not even convincing, like, at _all-_"

Skandar was suddenly aware of a faint purple tint to her room, one that existed for only half a second. She stopped mid-sentence, however, intrigued by it. But as soon as the purple tint vanished, Vanessa stood before her bed, her phone up to her ear. Skandar clamped her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming, scrambling back from Vanessa in shock. "Oh, my…" Skandar gasped, and Vanessa lifted one hand and gave her a small wave.

"Find it convincing now?" Vanessa asked.

"We can't just abandon them," Susan protested, sounding desperate and near tears. Edmund watched her carefully, hoping she wouldn't start crying in front of him and Peter, because then Peter would ask why she was crying, and while he might accept the answer that she was worried about Lucy, Edmund also knew that Peter suspected and disapproved of Susan's feelings toward Caspian. Peter was probably glad Caspian was gone, actually.

It had been nearly two hours since Lucy and Caspian had disappeared, and they were nowhere near closer to coming up with a plan for finding them.

"We won't abandon them," Peter assured her, looking aghast at the suggestion. Edmund knew he probably was; the insinuation that he would ever stop searching for his favourite sister was a very offensive one to Peter. "We just need to wait until we know where to look and not do anything rash," he explained calmly.

"If we wait too long, it might be too late," Susan argued.

"Well, it's not like we _can_ do anything else," Peter said helplessly, raking his fingers through his golden hair and looking flustered. Susan huffed and looked away like she couldn't stand to look at her brother anymore, he was so frustrating.

Edmund kept silent, knowing from experience to keep out of arguments between the oldest Pevensies. But how he wished they would stop arguing! Arguing wouldn't fix anything, nor would it help them find Lucy and Caspian.

"All I'm saying is that-" Susan started, but at that moment, Edmund suddenly realised that he was sitting on the deck of a ship instead of the smooth, polished floor of Cair Paravel. Salty breezes swirled all about him, bringing back memories of the months at sea with Lucy, Caspian, and Eustace. A bright sun swung overhead, shimmering down in a dazzling manner on the sparkling blue waters that surrounded the ship. Susan and Peter were sitting a few feet away, looking as amazed as Edmund felt. The three of them were silent for a long while, just gaping at the mast and huge purple sail that sprouted from the middle of the deck, the black dragon's head at the helm of the ship, and the great black wings that were folded along the ribs. Edmund looked around wildly for land, but none met his eyes, to his dismay. Where _were_ they…?

Peter stood up, still squinting up at the purple sail. He looked at it a moment more, and then helped Susan to her feet. She gazed about the deck and asked to no one in particular, "Where are we?"

No one answered.

"Are…are we in Narnia?" Peter ventured after a while, wandering over to the deck and gazing out at the waters. "The ship looks Narnia enough – just like a black _Dawn Treader_, actually – and the waters do too, but…there's no land. I can't tell."

"Why would we be moved from one place in Narnia to another like that?" Susan asked. "It doesn't make sense. Maybe we're not in Narnia."

"Well, we're certainly not on Earth," Edmund piped up, eyeing the whole ship again. Except for the colours, it was exactly identical in every way to the _Dawn Treader_, making him miss the grand ship and the adventures he'd had upon it even more. "Not in a ship like this." He ran his hand over the smooth oak railing and then pulled his hand away, a little disturbed; it even _felt_ like the railing of the _Dawn Treader_.

Thoroughly confused and bewildered, the three Pevensies stood looking at each other, having absolutely no idea where they were, why they were there, or how to get back to Earth or Narnia.


	6. A Pirate's Life

_Episode Five 'A Pirate's Life'_

Jack, Elizabeth, and Will

"Um…Vanessa?" Skandar said, her voice catching in her throat. "Would you mind explaining to me _how the heck_ you did that? That's, like, not even possible!" Her heart beating wildly with excitement - and partial terror - Skandar slid off her bed and stood silently beside it, eyeing her friend suspiciously.

Vanessa looked uncomfortable. She shifted a few times, looking reluctant to answer, but she eventually shrugged and said, "I snapped."

Confused, Skandar echoed, "You…snapped?"

"I snapped."

"Like this…?" Skandar snapped her fingers together a few times, and Vanessa flinched as if expecting something to happen. Skandar eyed her strangely. "Yeah, like that," Vanessa agreed. "I snap, and stuff…happens. It's weird."

Skandar hesitated, and then she burst out laughing. She didn't really find it very funny, since Vanessa _had_, in fact, poofed into her room magically, but she was nervous and didn't know what else to do, so she laughed. Vanessa scowled at her, crossing her arms impertinently. "Are you laughing at me, Skandar?" she demanded.

"Yes," Skandar giggled.

Vanessa raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry," Skandar apologised, still trying to control her laughter. "It's just so absurd, Vanessa! I mean, you _snap_ and you can suddenly teleport into my room? It's a little bit far-fetched, you have to admit…" She sat back down on her bed, curious to see what Vanessa would say.

Vanessa rubbed her forehead tiredly and said with a sigh, "Yeah…I know. But it's not really real, and neither are you, and I'm not really here - I'm just imagining it - _and_ I'm talking to myself again…so! Since all of this-" - she flung out her arms to gesture to Skandar's room - "-isn't real, then neither are my snapping powers, so it's all good. It's just all in my head. See, I think I must've hit my head pretty hard when I-"

Skandar interrupted, alarmed, "What do you mean I'm not real, Vanessa? I feel pretty real to me!" She pinched herself a few times to demonstrate her point. "And my room is real." Skandar whacked her bedspread. "And _you're _real." She went over and poked Vanessa's shoulder. "And both Samantha and I saw you poof into my room. And unless all three of us are all having the same dream - like Inception, or something - then I think everything here's real."

Vanessa blinked, looking confused. "But…" she protested. "I fell down the cliff after grabbing that darn purple rock, and I must have hit my head. I'm, like, brain damaged now! This is all just a figment of my imagination; I mean, it must be. Teleportation and magical, glowing, purple rocks aren't real, Skandar."

"What cliff was this, Vanessa?" Skandar asked, wondering if maybe her friend really was crazy, like she said.

"The one I discovered behind my house," Vanessa explained. "I went down a different path in the woods and I found this cliff. It was pretty steep, but I decided to climb it anyway-"

"That was stupid."

Vanessa glared at her. "_Anyway_," she said irritably, "I climbed down and then I saw this shiny purple rock." She made a shape in the air with her hands. "And I reached over to get it, but the root I was holding onto snapped, so I fell. I think I hit my head, but I'm not sure. And then the rock started glowing, and it made these cuts on my hand-" She held out her left hand to show Skandar some thin, glittery, purple cuts that lay on the skin and looked recent. "-and then my watch started showing the wrong time."

"The rock made these cuts?" Skandar asked.

"Yeah. It was weird. It tingled," Vanessa said, looking a little disturbed at the memory. "So then I started home. I was bored, so I began singing to myself, and I snapped. Then all of a sudden it was sunrise."

Skandar laughed again. "You snapped and it became sunset? What time was it before you snapped?"

"It should have been about 7 on the sixteenth." Vanessa eyed Skandar closely, as if waiting for her response.

Skandar blinked in confusion. "But…it's the fifteenth, Vanessa…"

"I know. This happened tomorrow."

Skandar giggled. "Uh huh. Sure."

"It did!" Vanessa exclaimed in frustration. "When I snapped again, I was back home and Mum was flipping pancakes! Before I left, she and Dad were on their way to Open House at school! Arg! It's true; I promise." She looked desperate.

Skandar crossed her arms, completely unconvinced. "All right then," she said. "Show me. Take me to this cliff and show me this magical glittery rock, and then I _might_ believe you."

Vanessa sighed. "But I've never done it with two people before; I don't even know if it'll work."

"Only one way to find out," Skandar reminded her, eager to see if Vanessa really could get both of them to poof out, the way Samantha had claimed she had earlier. Vanessa shrugged and held out her hand. "It'll probably only work if I'm touching you," she said, so Skandar took Vanessa's hand, laughing silently inside.

Vanessa took a deep breath and said softly, "I want to go back to the cliff where I found the rock tomorrow."

And she snapped.

They were standing at the bottom of a gulch, a high cliff rising up before them. Trees grew sparsely along the various ridges of the cliff and around the two girls. The sky was a darker blue, signalling that it was nearly dark. A shiny purple rock lay not far away, sitting atop the dry leaves that coated the floor.

Skandar gaped up at the forest, thunderstruck. Vanessa walked over to where the purple rock lay, and she kicked at it lamely, like she wasn't sure what to do with it. Skandar came over and reached down to pick it up, curious. Vanessa noticed what she was doing too late. "No!" Vanessa exclaimed angrily. "Skandar! What are you doing?"

Enraptured, Skandar straightened and held on to the rock, turning it this way and that, examining the stone with a fascinated expression. Vanessa tried to snatch it away, but when her friend grabbed the rock, Skandar realised it was stuck to her skin. She yelped in fright as she tried to shake it off, but it wouldn't come off her palm. "See, I told you!" Vanessa cried. "It's evil!"

Skandar tried to pry the purple stone away from her skin, but she couldn't. She also was beginning to feel this weird tingling in her arm, like what Vanessa had described to her earlier. Desperate to get the rock off, she shook her arm hard, but it still would not budge. "Vanessa," she whimpered.

"I warned you."

Skandar stuck her tongue out at her. The tingle spread up to her shoulder and over to her heart. The rock began to glow, which made Skandar even more hysteric. "It's glowing!" she shrieked, and Vanessa must've found her expression funny, because she laughed. "I told you it glowed, Skandar."

"But _it's glowing_!"

Warmth began to spread throughout Skandar's body, making her pause. What was this? She felt a particularly itchy heat gather in her back, which made her both curious and fearful. She tried to twist around and see what was happening, but she couldn't; she could only feel the itchy warmth proliferating. She rolled her shoulders, feeling sore all of a sudden.

Then she noticed Vanessa staring, her mouth open with shock. "What?" Skandar demanded. "What is it?"

Vanessa pointed.

Elizabeth Swann sat on the beach of Port Royal, far away from the loading docks and the hustling crowds and merchant of the harbours. Her hair was loose about her shoulders, and her knees where pulled up to her chest, her arms resting on top of them. Elizabeth came here often when she needed a break from her prim and proper life, as it was the only place where she wasn't plagued constantly by servants, her father, or her friend Will Turner, who - whilst he was pleasant enough - grated on her nerves after a while. Her maid Estrella had tried to convince the nineteen-year-old daughter of the governor that the blacksmith was in love with her and that that was the reason he was about so much, but Elizabeth didn't buy it. Will Turner? In love with _her_? Why, they had been friends since they were ten years old, and there was no way Will would ever fall in love with Elizabeth Swann! So she came here to escape Estrella's insistent reminders as well, knowing that they were nothing more than fanciful wishes.

The ocean was soothing to Elizabeth. It always had been. Something about the rhythmic pulsing of the grey tides, or the warmth of the balmy sun, or the far-off screeching of the gulls. Either way, it relaxed her. She tilted her head back, eyes closed, and sighed deeply in contentment, glad to be alone at last.

She didn't notice that Will Turner was walking along the sandy dunes not far away. He had been there before her and had just now seen her. He stopped, stock-still, and watched her for a long time , breathless. But should he say anything to her? Will had never been very brave when it came to speaking to Miss Swann. Might she think it odd that he had happened to be on the beach at the same time as herself? Will sighed, his heart aching. Ever since he had opened his eyes and looked into hers that day he had been rescued, he had been in love with Elizabeth Swann. He knew that she didn't believe that to be true, but how he longed to tell her it was! But he was too cowardly. He smiled ruefully to himself; Will Turner the blacksmith didn't even have enough pluck to speak to the one woman he loved. How disappointed his father would be in him…

He turned and walked back the way he had come, silently ashamed of himself.

It was almost two weeks before Caine was strong enough to get out of the hammock and walk around, and the only way he could do so was by leaning heavily on Lucy, which embarrassed him greatly. Caine had always hated having to rely on others and appearing weak, but this was worse than usual - having to have a girl help him do something as simple as walking. He was very glad Diana wasn't there to see him.

But then, Caine didn't _really_ mind having Lucy help him. It gave him a chance to get close to her, though he was pretty sure Lucy thought of him in any way other than that of an injured boy who needed her help. She was too busy thinking about _Sam. _Caine's blood boiled just thinking about it. Sam seemed to be oblivious to the fact that Lucy admired him and hung on his every word and looked at him with shining eyes like he was some great hero. The way Caine reacted around Lucy.

He had absolutely no idea why he was so attracted to this gentle, beautiful girl, but she drew his attention constantly; he never wanted to blink when he was around her, because he was terrified he would miss even a second of her loveliness. He never even thought of Diana anymore; Lucy Pevensie was the one that occupied Caine's thoughts now. But the worse thing was that she seemed totally ignorant of his admiration. It peeved Caine to no end. He was used to girls falling all over themselves to earn even a look from Caine Soren and making complete fools of themselves in order to get his attention, but this girl…she was so different. She was always so sincere and kind, even when Caine probably deserved a few curse words for how he acted, and she always treated him like his and Sam's health were far more important to her than her own; he had even seen her give away some of her supper to Sam when he was still hungry! Lucy Pevensie was the greatest mystery Caine had ever encountered, and he was determined to unravel every aspect of that mystery, one way or the other.

Caine knew he didn't know the first thing about love, but he imagined that if there was any girl he could come close to loving – whatever that meant – it would be Lucy Pevensie. It would be impossible for someone _not_ to love Lucy; she made everyone, even Caine, feel good and like they were worth something, which was a new feeling for Caine Soren. He had grown up feeling like everyone was his enemy and that the only way to get anywhere in the world was to crush his enemies and make them fear him. And he had been good at it. But he didn't feel like Lucy was – or ever could be – his enemy. How could she? All she ever did was be kind to him, smile, and help him in any way she could. Lucy always had a kind, gentle word for him even when he was less-than-courteous to her, when old habits came up to the surface. Caine couldn't understand it; how could she never get irritated with him? How could she always stay so calm and cheerful and beautiful? The elusive answer to his questions plagued him every time he saw her, but he didn't want to ask her, didn't want to show how interested in her he was. That wasn't the way Caine got girls; he let them come to him. And Caine was confident that Lucy would, given some time. When she got over _Sam_.

Even now as he stood at the railing of the ship, gripping tight to the iron rail so he wouldn't collapse and watching Sam and Lucy swimming and laughing in the water, Caine felt the old jealousy monster rising up in him. He didn't know why he already felt so protective of Lucy Pevensie – he had only known her for two and a half weeks – but seeing her having such a good time with Sam, his mortal enemy, and knowing that she practically _adored_ Sam made Caine extremely angry and jealous. He really wanted to hit Sam with a good telepathic punch, but after what had happened last time Caine had used his powers, he was reluctant to use them again. He didn't fancy spending another three weeks in bed after nearly drowning.

Caine couldn't figure out what had made his powers backfire like that; they'd never done that back in Perdido Beach, and Sam hadn't had any problems – that Caine knew of – with his powers…Perhaps it was that they were in this new, weird world. Maybe there was something about this place that caused his powers to go wacky; Caine really had no idea.

"Caine!" Lucy called up to him. "Are you sure you don't want to swim with us?" Sam splashed her and Lucy shrieked with surprised laughter, making Caine stiffen as he watched them having such a good time. He probably was strong enough to swim around with them for a little while, but he wanted absolutely nothing more to do with water, not now and probably not any time soon. And while he was reluctant to admit his weakness to her – especially when Sam was in hearing range – it made a for a good reason for him to stay out of the water, and he knew that Lucy would understand. Caine also didn't want to be around Sam unless he absolutely had to, and this provided the perfect excuse.

"I'm good," he said, partially wishing that he could be the one splashing Lucy and making her laugh, not _Sam_. But Caine would never dare admit that aloud.

Vanessa reached out and grabbed something behind Skandar, and to her shock, it felt like Vanessa had taken hold of her arm, even though she knew she hadn't. Vanessa pulled gently, and Skandar saw something white appear by her side. Gasping in reaction, Skandar jerked back. The white thing smacked Vanessa in the shoulder, making her friend fall to the ground and land on her bum, looking very annoyed with Skandar. "Calm down, Skandar, for Ferdinand's sake!" she snapped, and then Vanessa got to her feet and brushed off her palms on her pants.

Skandar, meanwhile, was spinning in a slow circle, trying to catch a full glimpse of what was on her back. She now had a very good idea of what it was – if this wasn't a dream or something – but she was unsure; Skandar wanted to see them for herself before she confirmed that she now had wings. She saw the full length of one of them a moment later, and Skandar gasped again. "No way…" she said softly, reaching behind her to touch the wing. Her hand trembled as it brushed over the large feathers, and she could feel her pulse drumming softly through the big, white wings.

Vanessa came over to her and took hold of Skandar's wing again, studying it closely. "Interesting," she commented, moving the wing this way and that, which annoyed Skandar. She moved her wing out of Vanessa's grasp and snapped protectively, "They're _my_ wings, not yours. Hands off."

Her friend raised her eyebrows at her. "I was the one who discovered the rock," she pointed out, though Skandar could tell that Vanessa wasn't trying to be challenging; her friend was just curious. "I wonder…Can you actually fly with these?"

Skandar snorted. "Why would I have wings that I couldn't fly with?"

Vanessa shrugged. "You never know." Then she walked around to stand in front of Skandar and gestured with her hand. "Well? Are you gonna try them out?"

Skandar blinked. Try them out? How was she gonna do that? Skandar didn't know the first thing about birds or airplanes, much less how to fly like one. "Uh…" she said lamely. But she figured that she'd have to try sooner or later, so she might as well try them now. Skandar backed up from Vanessa, hoping she wouldn't hit her friend again, and then started to pump her wings, though slowly and jerkily at first. She moved her arms with her wings to get the motion down, and once she had, Skandar started pumping harder.

And she felt herself lift off the ground.

Skandar shrieked in delight as she hovered a few inches off the ground, but she abruptly realised that she wasn't strong enough to hold herself up anymore, so she had to touch back down. But she had just used wings – her own, beautiful wings – to _fly_! Kind of. But anyway, Skandar was ecstatic: how many girls her age got their own pair of angel wings? None! "Best. Day. Ever!" she declared happily, and she rushed over to hug Vanessa, who hated hugs, but Skandar was so happy she didn't care.

"I have wings!" she told Vanessa excitedly.

"Yes, I know," Vanessa said tiredly.

Skandar backed up and then asked her friend, "Hey, can you show me the snapping thing again?"

Vanessa frowned, looking unsure. "Well…the only place we can go is back to your house or mine, I think; when I tried to get myself into a book or get the characters out, nothing happened…"

"Well, it never hurts to try again," Skandar pointed out, eager to see more of Vanessa's cool snapping/teleporting powers. This day was so awesome! If Skandar had been told a few hours ago that Vanessa would magically pop into her room and that she, Skandar Keynes, would get wings, she would have laughed in their face, but now that it had actually happened…Skandar was really jazzed.

"I've got the _Pirates of the Caribbean_ book back at my house," Skandar said eagerly. "You could see if the snapping works with that."

"I don't know…." Vanessa said, sounding reluctant.

"What other books did you say you've tried it with?"

"GONE, and _The Chronicles of Narnia_," she answered.

Skandar gasped. "_The Chronicles of Narnia_?" she demanded. "I love those books! Oh my goodness! That would be so amazing if we could meet the Pevensies! Vanessa, you _have_ to try again! Maybe you have to do it a few times before it works or something. I want to meet Edmund _so badly_!"

Vanessa snickered. "What would you do if you _did_ meet him, Skandar? Run up and hug him?"

"Maybe," Skandar replied defensively, well aware of that fact that Vanessa thought her silly for being so obsessed with a fictional character. But hey, Skandar didn't care what Vanessa thought; Edmund was _amazing_! It would be a dream come true to actually get to meet him!

Vanessa slapped her palm against her forehead in exasperation. "Oh my goodness…" she said with a sigh.

"What? He's _awesome_!"

"Uh huh." She took a hold of Skandar's wings, causing her to jerk a little in reaction. "Ow!" Skandar protested. "What are you-"

But at that moment, Vanessa snapped, cutting off Skandar's sentence. Skandar blinked and then she saw her room. "Wow…" she said blankly, and then Skandar dashed over to her bookshelf and pulled out her _Pirates of the Caribbean_ book. She handed it to Vanessa eagerly. "Read away!" she said happily, excited to see what would happen.

Vanessa sighed. "I don't think it's gonna work, Skandar."

"You never know till you try."

"_I have tried_!"

"Well, try again! I wanna see," Skandar protested, crossing her arms and glaring at her friend.

Vanessa glared back, but she finally opened up the book and began reading.

Will had made up his mind – he was going to go over there and speak to Elizabeth Swann.

After a few silent minutes of wrestling with himself, he had decided that he would have nothing to lose, and therefore he could be man enough to speak to the girl he loved. So he turned around and began walking back towards where he had seen her, his heart pounding and his blood racing.

But when Will rounded the corner of the beach, he found that Elizabeth was no longer there. He blinked in incomprehension a few times, and then realised that she was nowhere to be found. Had she gone back to her house in Port Royal?

Desperate, Will took off running towards where he had seen Elizabeth. Maybe she had just walked a little further down the beach. He had just gotten up the courage to talk to her; he didn't want to have to wait any longer!

He kept running for a while, but he couldn't seem to find Elizabeth. He had just seen her a few minutes ago…Where had she gone? He searched up and down the entire length of the beach, but still, there was no sign of Elizabeth Swann.

As Will paused to catch his breath, he was suddenly aware that he was no longer _on_ the beach….

…He was on a ship.

A black ship, with a large dragon neck and head curving up from the hull. Puzzled, Will looked around, unsure what had just happened. Had he not been standing on a beach in Port Royal a few moments ago? What was this place?

"Will?" he heard Elizabeth say.

He spun around, shocked, but pleased that he had found her. But then…what was she doing here, too? Elizabeth looked surprised to see him, and after staring at each for a moment, she asked, "Where are we?"

"I don't know," he answered, stumbling a little because he was astonished that Elizabeth Swann was actually talking to _him_. "I just got here…"

Elizabeth looked annoyed. "That's not very helpful, Will."

Will said nothing. He continued to look around, extremely curious about this strange ship. It was of very fine make, elegant, and reminded him a little of the _Black Pearl_, but this ship was very different than the _Pearl_; for one thing, the _Pearl_ didn't have a large dragon head sprouting from the hull.

Will and Elizabeth started with surprise as they heard several voices – voices of children, or so it sounded to Will – coming from the water.

Then they heard another voice, one that Will was very, very familiar with, say, "Does anyone know whose ship this is? It's very…pretty."

Captain Jack Sparrow.

Will groaned in despair.

"See?" Vanessa demanded, shutting the book. "Nothing happens."

Skandar frowned, disappointed. "Well….yeah. That was pretty lame.

"Yeah…" Vanessa said, frowning. "It would have been really cool if Jack Sparrow and Will and Elizabeth had poofed out here, or if I had poofed in there. That would have been _awesome_. But…looks like it ain't gonna happen."

"That stinks," Skandar said, taking the book from Vanessa and putting it back on the shelf sadly.

"Well…I could always poof to Australia or something."

"Why would you want to go to Australia?"

Vanessa shrugged. "'Cause then I wouldn't have to go to school."

Skandar brightened at this. "Ooh! Can I go to Australia too?"

"Why would I take you? It's _my_ power," Vanessa shot back.

"Well, then I'll _fly_," Skandar said, in too good a mood about the fact that she had wings to let Vanessa ruin her day.

Vanessa laughed. "You wouldn't get very far; you couldn't even get two feet off the ground!" She wandered over to Skandar's bookshelf and began rifling through the books again, looking intently for something.

"Well, I've never flown before; what'd you expect?"

"A little better than that." Vanessa flopped down on the bed, and Skandar stuck her tongue out at Vanessa. Skandar then wandered over to the window and stared out at her backyard, wondering why nothing seemed to be happening when Vanessa read out of the books. It would've made sense if her friend could read them into books or the characters out of the book, so why didn't it work?

Lucy jogged up the stairs, anxious to get above deck. It was almost sunset, and she hated missing the glorious sunsets that this place featured ever evening. She hadn't missed one in the nearly four weeks they had been on the ship, and she wasn't about to now.

She wished Sam would come more often than he did – he only watched the sun set with her once or twice a week, instead of every day, like she wanted. Lucy knew boys didn't care about sunsets and watching the waves and all of that, but since she had developed a crush on him in the past few weeks, she would have liked him to share the experience with her.

And then there was Caine. Lucy _still_ didn't know what to make of him. He was always very polite to her and he never gave her reason to dislike him, but around Sam, he could be vicious. The boys always had a cruel word for each other, no matter what Lucy did to try and dissuade them from being so harsh. It made her so sad, watching them: they were twin brothers! They shouldn't be so unkind and angry towards each other; even Edmund and Peter – back when they had such a rivalry – were not so hostile. Lucy couldn't understand what had made Sam and Caine so unfriendly, as Sam told her very little about their life back in America, and Caine never said anything about it. She had given up on trying to get anything out of him; Caine was more tight-lipped about his past than anyone she had ever met, and it made her suspicious and worried.

Lucy came to the top of the steps and looked up at the deck, excited to see what glorious sunset would be displayed that night. But she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw who was standing on the deck, and after staying frozen with surprise for a moment, she shouted, "Edmund! Peter! Susan!" and ran forward.

The three older Pevensies whirled around at the sound of Lucy's voice, and Edmund saw her come running across the deck towards them. Unable to believe it, he exclaimed, "Lucy!" and caught her as she barreled into him. He spun his little sister around in a hug, intensely relieved to see her alive and well. "What are you doing here?" he asked with a laugh.

She pulled out of his embrace and, grinning hugely, said in reply, "What are _you_ doing here? Oh, I've never been so glad to see you three in my life!" And she dashed over to Peter, hugged him, and then to Susan, laughing all the way.

"Goodness, Lu," Peter said, watching her, "You act like you haven't seen us in months! Is everything all right?" He looked around curiously at the strange ship as if searching for anything that could be dangerous to his sister.

Lucy pulled away from Susan and said a little shyly, "Well, it's been almost four weeks, and with just Sam, Caine, Caspian, and me here, it's gotten a little lonely at times." Susan, with her arm around Lucy's shoulders, exchanged a puzzled glance with Edmund and Peter. Edmund frowned. Had Lucy said it'd been almost four weeks? But she had only been gone for several hours…There was a silence, and then Peter said, "Well, perhaps time works differently here, because back in Narnia, it's only been about three hours since you and Caspian disappeared. How is he, by the way? Is he here?"

Lucy started to answer, but Caspian, coming from the cabin at the opposite side of the deck, answered instead, "Yes, I'm here, and we're all fine." He came up to the Pevensies, looking a little more reserved and weary than usual, but Edmund was so very glad to see his friend that he barely noticed. Caspian caught his eye, smiled, and then came over to embrace Edmund. Grinning, Edmund said, "How've you been, Caspian?"

"Well enough. And you?"

Edmund chuckled. "Worried out of my wits, but I'm all right now."

Caspian laughed. "I'm glad to hear it." Then he turned to Peter and stuck out his hand. Peter hesitated, but finally took it, saying, "I must say, I'm glad to see you all right, Caspian."

"I'm glad to see you _here_," Caspian returned. Then he looked hesitantly at Susan, as if unsure as to how he should greet her. To Edmund's surprise – and probably Caspian's, too – Susan came forward confidently and threw her arms around Caspian, hugging him tight. Caspian looked dumbfounded for a moment, and then he quickly recovered and embraced her too. Edmund cast a glance at Peter, expecting to see irritation, but he saw nothing out of the ordinary in his brother's face, only calm acceptance. That surprised Edmund, but he said nothing.

Then Lucy said, "I'd like you all to meet Sam and Caine. They got transported here as well, only they're from America. They're brothers, and we're all good friends. Wait here." She dashed off below deck, her excitement evident in every step. Edmund smiled as he watched her go; she was obviously very glad to see them all.

She returned a moment later with two boys, both of whom seemed about Edmund's age, which was sixteen. One, the boy with darker hair, seemed wary and uncomfortable about the whole thing, but the blonde boy strode confidently alongside Lucy and struck Edmund as someone who was a natural leader, unafraid of challenges. He liked him immediately, though he was unsure about the dark-haired boy.

"This is Sam Temple," Lucy announced, smiling up at the blonde boy. Sam smiled and extended his hand to Edmund, who shook it. "Hey, I'm Sam," he said, and Edmund heard his American accent in those three words.

"I'm Edmund, Lucy's brother," Edmund said.

"Cool." Sam moved over to Peter, and then to Susan, smiling as he went. Edmund saw him sneak an admiring glance at Susan as he retreated back to Lucy's side once he had met everyone, and Edmund smirked to himself. Sam would have a fun time going after Susan; Caspian probably wouldn't let the Temple kid anywhere near her.

"And this is Caine," Lucy said, turning and gesturing to the dark-haired boy. He did not smile, come forward, or even say anything; he just glanced at each of the Pevensies in turn, and then returned his gaze to something in the distance, his hands in his pockets.

"So where are you two from, Sam?" Peter asked, taking the attention off of Caine.

"Perdido Beach, California," Sam answered, "Though Lucy and I have figured out that Caine and I lived farther in the future than you; we lived in the year 2011 before we came here."

Peter's eyebrows lifted in interest. "Really? That's fascinating. Time seems to work differently in every world we encounter."

Sam nodded. "Yeah, Lucy's told me about your travels to different worlds. Very cool. I never had much interest in sci-fi and all that junk, but this kind of world-hopping or whatever is pretty interesting to me. I'd like to know how it works and how we all got here."

"Me too," Caspian said grimly. "And I'd also like to know to get home. We've been here too long."

Peter was quick to reply: "Not really; as I was telling Lucy, you've only been gone a few hours back in Narnia. Drinian and your advisors will keep things running smoothly until we figure out a way to get back."

Caspian said nothing, but Edmund could tell he was displeased.

There was a few moments of silence, and Edmund promptly thought of a question: "Does anyone know where we are?"

Caspian sighed heavily and answered, "No. We've seen no land, no other ships, nothing but water in every direction for all four weeks we've been here. I found some maps in the captain's quarters, but they're all blank."

"Do you think this could be a new world, then?" Susan asked, voicing Edmund's own question.

"We're not sure about anything," Caspian said softly. "Lucy and I discussed the idea, but it doesn't seem likely. We haven't been able to come up with much else, however…"

"I wish we could find land," Lucy said then, growing sombre. "I'm getting rather tired of being on this ship all the time…"

"Me too," the boy called Caine said darkly, the look in his black eyes echoing his words. Edmund frowned instinctively; he didn't like Caine.

They all jumped as they heard a new voice call out from the poop deck, and seven heads turned to look at where the voice was coming from. Edmund stared in shock at the strangest man he had ever seen, the man who had said, "Where am I? This doesn't look like the Caribbean." He wore a faded grey coat and a tricorn hat, and various trinkets and baubles were woven into his dreadlocked hair. Kohl lined his dark eyes, and he wore shabby brown boots. A sword and a pistol were at his waist.

Silence descended on those on deck as they gazed at the strange man, and then, finally, Peter demanded, "Who are you?" Edmund waited for the man's answer, curious.

The man turned his gaze on Peter, squinted at him as if trying to remember if he had seen him before, and then responded, "I'm Captain Jack Sparrow, lad." He pulled off his hat and bowed with a flourish that seem strangely wobbly. When he straightened and put his hat back on, he demanded in return, "And who are you? Where's the captain of this-" he paused to glance about the ship, his hands twitching a little as he did so "-fine vessel?"

"Peter Pevensie," Peter replied. "These are my brothers and sisters, as well as a few others. I…I don't think there _is_ a captain, sir; at least, I haven't seen one." Caspian nodded in affirmative. "There's no captain," he confirmed.

Jack scowled. "What are a bunch of children like yourselves doing on such a ship? And why is there no captain? A ship like this can't row itself."

"Actually…." Lucy piped up, looking a little nervous at speaking. "It does seem to move itself, sir; we haven't had to row or anything, and it just keeps going at the speed it's going at now, all the time. We haven't seen any land or other ships, though."

The captain narrowed his eyes at her. "No land? No other ships?" he repeated. "Well, where the blazes are we, then? There must be land somewhere." He gestured vaguely with one hand. "Not that we've seen, Captain," Lucy said sadly.

Then, the seven of them heard yet another new voice speak, this one saying, "Jack Sparrow? I don't believe it!" It was the voice of a young woman, and she came into view a moment later. She was tall, thin, and very pretty, with long blonde hair that was braided elegantly. Edmund assumed she must have been previously familiar with the strange captain, from the way she had said his name, and he wondered if there were from the same world.

Jack turned around, and he exclaimed, "Ah! Miss Swann! Fancy seeing you here. Where's that blacksmith of yours? Did you manage to leave him behind this time?" He grinned, letting Edmund catch a glimpse of a few gold teeth. He wrinkled his nose at the sight.

"No, she didn't," a young man's voice said, and Edmund saw a dark-haired young man step up beside the blonde girl, seeming protective of her. "I'm still here, Jack."

Jack scowled. "Pity. I was hoping to have her all to myself this time." The girl looked upset at his words, and she lashed out at him, but Jack caught her arm and laughed, saying, "Good to see you again, too, Elizabeth." Then he turned back to the confused Pevensies and said loudly, "Well, if we're going to find land anytime soon, we'll need to be going a bit faster than this, and as such, we need a crew. All you lads look…like you'll do, under the circumstances." He grimaced. "And as I'm the captain of this ship, I'm giving orders now."

Edmund looked over at Peter, who called up to Jack, "And who elected you the captain of this ship, Mr. Sparrow? We were here first, as I recall."

"Ah, but you see, sonny, as I'm the one who goes by _Captain_ Jack Sparrow and seeing as I have far more nautical experience than yourself, _I'll_ be commanding this ship-" he pointed to himself "- not you." He pointed at Peter.

"That's not true," Peter countered. "I commanded a fleet of eighteen ships when I was king of Narnia, and I've been on over two hundred sea voyages during my reign. I'm sure I know just as much about ship as you do, and I think 'king' trumps 'captain', does it not?"

Jack smiled pityingly at Peter. "A very nice story, sonny," he said. "But I'm still _Captain_ Jack Sparrow, and I'll be running this ship."


	7. We're Not Real?

_Episode Six 'We're Not Real?'_

Vanessa and Skandar

_Sarah _

Sarah Pittner barely existed. She knew that she was being created, and she knew that she was being created with an innately aggressive manner. She knew that she was going to be important, but she didn't yet know why. She was just a figment of someone's imagination right now, nothing substantial or corporeal…

Sarah could sense that she loved water, but she didn't even know what water was. In fact, she didn't even know how – or why – she had a name. Who had given it to her? Who was creating her? Sarah didn't know, nor did she particularly care.

She let herself drift back into nothingness as she waited to be created.

_Vanessa _

Vanessa knew she could do it; she _should _be able to do it. So why couldn't she? Why were her powers giving her such a hard time about going into another world? Perhaps because those worlds weren't real. Perhaps because those worlds were still being created and weren't ready yet. But c'mon! How long could it take to bring a world into existence? Vanessa had done it many times in her mind, like when she had created a water world a few months during math class. How cool it would be to visit that place!

And another thing that irked her: her 'amazing teleporting powers' were making her look bad to Skandar! Sure, she could pop into different places, but the fact that she couldn't do the one thing that both of them _wanted_ her to be able to do…it was definitely irritating. And now Skandar had wings! How unfair was that? Vanessa wanted wings; what good had her teleporting powers done her?

As she watched Skandar struggle to fly, her friend only getting a foot or two off the ground before she had to touch back down, Vanessa wondered if she could transport _Skandar_ to another world, even if she couldn't move herself. Maybe if she tried to transport both of them, it would work. Intrigued by the idea, Vanessa said, "Hey, Skandar. Do you think if I tried to transport _both_ of us to another world, it would work?"

Skandar paused, ruffling her wings, and then shrugged, saying, "It's worth a shot, I guess, if you think it might work. There's been no indication that it will, but…Sure, you can try if you want."

Vanessa debated for another moment, and then decided. "Okay. I guess. Come here; let's see if this'll work."

Skandar laughed as she came over to her friend. "You really want to meet Jack Sparrow, don't you?" Her eyes amused, Skandar looked down at Vanessa where she was sitting on the floor, surrounded by books that she had tried to read herself into and failed.

She nodded vigorously, so excited about the fact that she could barely contain her energy. "Heck yeah!" she agreed, getting to her feet and dusting herself off as she eyed Skandar. "How are you supposed to move wings anyway?" she wondered aloud.

Beaming with pride, Skandar flapped them experimentally, gusting Vanessa with a large breath of wind. "Just like you flap your arms," she said matter-of-factly. "But they're not strong enough for me to fly yet; it's like those baby birds who can't fly until they're bigger and stronger."

Vanessa laughed; she couldn't help it. To hear Skandar compare herself to a baby bird was hilarious, especially since Skandar actually _had_ wings. "I'll just call you 'birdie' from now on, okay?" she said with a laugh, which drew a disdainful look from Skandar.

"No!" her friend protested. "That's not okay, Vanessa!"

"Oh, c'mon! You just said-"

"No!" Skandar crossed her arms and glared at Vanessa, looking snubbed. Seeing that she could not be reasoned with, Vanessa sighed and grabbed Skandar's wing, causing her friend to stumble a little.

"Hey!" Skandar protested. "What're you-"

"I want to go to my water world!" Vanessa interrupted, and she snapped, holding tight to Skandar's wing just in case. She waited for nothing to happen, as usual, but to Vanessa's complete shock, the world began to dissolve around them and colours began to fade away. She dimly heard Skandar scream in alarm and while that alarmed Vanessa, she couldn't manage to say anything back.

Suddenly they were falling, and then a half-second later, they were underwater. Vanessa reflexively let go of Skandar's wing and began to swim for the surface, which she could see not far above them. Though she should have been excited that her powers worked, she was mostly confused, scared, and desperate for air.

She kept swimming, her lungs beginning to burn.

_Edmund _

In his opinion, coming to this strange new place was even better than being in Narnia. There were no kingdoms to run, no enemies to fight, no battles to fight – and there was also the bonus of a very pretty young woman to whom Edmund had taken quite a liking. Elizabeth Swann was brave, fierce, stubborn, and beautiful, and Edmund liked her quite a lot so far. She hardly ever spoke to him, however, and spent most of her time with either Sam or Peter, to Edmund's annoyance. What was it about _Sam _that attracted her attention? The American was nothing special in Edmund's opinion; all he could do was smile and swim. Even Lucy seemed to have fallen for him! She followed Sam doggedly everywhere he went, practically, and she was like his own little cult.

So as he stood on the deck, watching the waves and listening vaguely to the strange captain shouting orders to no one in particular, he felt conflicted. Edmund was torn between being so glad that they had been poofed out of Narnia and being disheartened that Elizabeth didn't even know he existed. After all, what could a chap do in his situation? He didn't want to scare her off, but he _really_ wanted to talk to her! Only problem was that Will Turner, the other pirate, seemed to like her every bit as much as Edmund did – if not more.

He sighed. This was why Edmund had never really had much interest in dating before – there was far too much drama involved!

Suddenly two girls appeared out of mid-air and plummeted five feet into the water below, startling Edmund so much that he could barely process what had just happened. Stunned, he watched the water for a moment, thinking maybe he was seeing things, but when one of the two girls broke the surface with a gasp a moment later, he was startled into action. Edmund looked over his shoulder and called to Caspian and Will – who were in the middle of an intense discussion – "Hey! People in the water!"

Caspian and Will looked up, confused, and looked at him like he was crazy. Annoyed, Edmund gestured at the railing behind him. "Two girls!" he reiterated. "They're in the water!"

Caspian then seemed to realise what Edmund meant, and he dashed over to where Edmund was standing, followed closely by Will. The three young men peered over the side at the dark-haired girl who was floundering about in the water.

"I thought you said there were two," Will commented.

Edmund frowned. Where _was_ the other girl…? Realising then that she might be in danger, he swung over the railing and dove in, followed by Caspian a moment later. Edmund swam over to the dark-haired girl and caught her flailing arms.

"Hey!" he said. "No need to get so excited; you're fine."

The girl gasped when she caught sight of him and her eyes grew wide before she squeaked, "Oh, my gosh! Edmund!"

Surprised and wary as to how this strange girl knew his name, Edmund merely nodded and began towing her back to the ship. "Yep, that's me," he agreed. The girl gave a breathless, excited laugh and then allowed herself to be hauled to the ship, where Will tossed a rope down to them. Holding tight to the girl, Edmund grabbed the rope and Will hauled them up on deck. When their feet had touched the deck, he realised abruptly that Caspian was not there too. He dashed back to the railing and, looking out at the water, saw Caspian towing a brown-haired girl towards the ship. The girl looked unconscious, but Edmund could see that she was still alive.

He jumped with surprise as he heard a loud, "_Oh my gosh! Will!_" Whirling around, he saw the girl hugging Will ecstatically, whilst Will looked completely flabbergasted and a little disturbed. The racket caused Sam, Lucy, Susan, and Peter, who were up on the poop deck, to come to the railing and look down at Will, Edmund, and the girl. Lucy gave a delighted gasp and raced down the stairs to stand before Will and wait for the girl to stop hugging him. When she did and she caught sight of Lucy, the girl clapped her hands and bounced up and down, her bare feet making soft thumps against the deck.

"Lucy!"

Looking surprised but pleased that the strange girl knew her name, Lucy laughed and said, "Yes! Welcome! And who are you?"

"Vanessa Talydon," the girl said happily, looking around in wide-eyed wonder at the assembling crowd. She waved enthusiastically to Susan and Peter, saying, "Peter! Susan! Hi!"

Peter, frowning a little, asked her seriously, "How do you know us, Vanessa?"

Vanessa started to reply, but at that moment, Caspian called down from the water, "I could some help down here!" Will and Peter immediately went over to the railing and lowered the rope down to Caspian, who was hauled up a moment later bearing a brown-haired girl with…wings? Edmund couldn't believe his eyes. It appeared that this new girl actually had _real wings_! Could it be? He had never heard of such a thing!

Caspian set the unconscious girl down on the deck, carefully making sure that her wings were not crumpled beneath her, and then the three young men stood over her, looking down at the winged girl curiously. Curious, Edmund came over, and he was soon joined by Lucy and Susan.

"What on earth…?" Susan said after a moment, voicing all their unspoken thoughts.

Vanessa barrelled her way into the small crowd a moment later. "Oh, that's Skandar," she said dismissively.

Edmund glanced at her, wondering about the strange winged girl. "She's got wings," he said doubtfully.

Vanessa nodded. "Yeah. She can't fly very well, though; she's not strong enough yet."

Lucy interjected, "But she _can_ fly?"

"Only a little. About a foot off the ground, and for only a second or two," Vanessa supplied, sounding bored. Then she wandered off towards the poop deck, humming happily to herself and bouncing with excitement.

"Lucy," Caspian said after a moment. "Go get Caine, Elizabeth, and Jack; we need them to meet the new girls as well." Lucy dashed off towards the forecastle to obey his command, and everyone else stayed where they were, staring down at the strange winged girl and wondering about her. Peter knelt down and gently touched one of the white wings, as if to make sure it was real and not some elaborate costume.

"Are they real?" Susan asked, sounding curious.

"I think so," Peter said, looking a little stunned. "Incredible…I wonder if she was born with them, or….?"

"Who knows?" Caspian said then, kneeling down and touching the girl's wings himself. "I suppose that's why she was having such a hard time getting to the surface; these wings weigh quite a bit."

"They'd have to, to get her off the ground," Sam said. He had been silent the entire time, and Edmund realised that the American didn't really look too surprised or in awe like everyone else did. He wondered if Sam had seen someone like this before, so he asked him, "Sam, you look like this is nothing new to you."

Sam shrugged casually. "I've seen far more exciting and weird things than a girl with wings; where I come from, she wouldn't be out of place at all." He thrust his hands in his pockets and shrugged again, looking a little bored. Edmund studied him carefully, wondering if he was not simply making it up, but decided not to press the matter too far; he didn't like Sam, anyway.

Lucy returned then with Caine in tow, looking sulky as ever. Elizabeth followed a moment later, and when those two had joined the others, Lucy dashed up to fetch Jack from the helm. They had a brief discussion, and then Jack sauntered after her and came down to the deck with the others. He sashayed over to the winged girl and peered down at her through squinted eyes for a moment, and then he pointed at her and declared, "That's not natural."

Edmund rolled his eyes; if there was one person on the ship that he _really_ disliked, it was Jack. The captain was so strange, Edmund hardly knew what to make of him. Caine was all right as long as he stuck to himself - which he did - but Jack _didn't_, and that annoyed Edmund a lot.

Then everyone heard a cry of, "Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!" and a moment later, Vanessa had barrelled into the captain and was hugging him as she had Will. Jack curled his lip and waved his hands at Vanessa. "Someone get it off!" he ordered. Edmund, being the closest, dutifully pried Vanessa away from Jack. "Sorry," Vanessa apologised, though she looked none too penitent. "I just got really excited to see you."

Jack peered at her carefully and then declared, "Well, no harm done. Just don't do…that again." He gestured aimlessly in the air.

"I'm Vanessa," she told him breathlessly.

"I don't care," Jack told her back, and then he straightened and asked, "Anything more to be said? No? Very good." And he turned to leave, but was stopped in mid-stride when Will ordered, "Wait, Jack. We're not done yet."

Jack waited a moment and then turned, his lips pursed, and reluctantly joined the circle again.

Will asked Vanessa then, "I don't suppose _you_ know where we are?"

Vanessa looked vaguely uncomfortable and she squinted for a moment as if trying to remember some long-forgotten detail. "Not really," she said eventually. "It kinda looks familiar, but…" She shrugged.

"Are you sure?" Will pressed. "You don't know the name of this place?"

Vanessa shook her head. "Well, it's kinda silly, but it reminds me of a place I made up in math class one time…It was called Istalya, I think, but since this is a real world, it can't be the one I made up."

Caspian then began to speak: "Where are you from?"

"America. But back to the important stuff – you guys don't know where we are?" Vanessa asked.

"No," Peter said.

Vanessa frowned. "Hmm…How did you get here?" There was a suspicious look on her face, like she had some idea what was going on but she didn't like it at all.

"We just disappeared from our worlds and came here," Lucy said, looking a little forlorn. "Sam and Caine came first, then Caspian and me, then Edmund, Susan, and Peter, then Captain Jack, Elizabeth, and Will. It was about three weeks before Edmund, Susan, and Peter came, and then another few days before the others came. It's been a week or two since they came."

Vanessa looked disturbed now. "Uh huh…I see." She was silent for a moment, shifting uncomfortably, and then she cleared her throat and said, "Well, I believe I know what happened. See, I found this purple rock at my house. And it gave me these teleporting powers, where I could snap my fingers and go anywhere I wanted. I tried to snap myself into a book called GONE, which is where Sam and Caine came from-" she gestured to the two brothers "- but nothing happened. Then I read _Voyage of the Dawn Treader_ and tried to snap myself there, but that didn't work. I tried again, and then I read _Pirates of the Caribbean_ and nothing worked. Then Skandar got wings and we tried to get into another world one more time…and this time, I guess it worked." She twiddled her fingers aimlessly as she spoke.

A stunned silence settled over the small group as everyone attempted to make sense of the new girl's strange story. Edmund was very confused; was Vanessa saying that she had pulled them out of a _book_ and into this strange new world, apparently called Istalya? He and his siblings weren't in a book! That was impossible! But he uncomfortably remembered what Lucy had told him after he had come a few weeks ago: all of them had come from different places and times. Maybe what Vanessa said had some truth after all…But it was so absurd!

"Wait," Caine said, speaking for the first time in a long time. "So you're saying that…we're not real?"

_Sarah _

She knew the moment she was created. That ice-crystal moment when Sarah began to exist was a lucid one indeed. There was a swirling sensation and a vague breathing beside her, and then she was lying face up on a warm wooden deck, looking up at a blue sky. She didn't know how she knew what the things were called, but she did. Perhaps the words came from her creator, whoever it was. Slowly, Sarah Pittner stood up, her legs shaky, but they held her up.

She walked to the railing and looked out at the blue waves and breathed in her first breath of the sea air. Sarah knew that this was where she belonged, in the watery world of Istalya, on her ship the _Millennium Pearl_. Puzzled, Sarah paused. How did she know her ship's name? She had only been alive for a few moments. Then she shrugged, unconcerned, and pulled out a telescope that she instinctively knew was in her pocket. Sarah peered through it, seeing nothing, but then she caught sight of another ship, far, far away, and a small smile came over her lips.

Her first mission was clear to her now: go to the other ship, and take it.

_Skandar _

She woke with a cough.

Skandar sat up slowly, her wings aching. What had happened? She dimly remembered falling and hitting the water, but everything after that was a blur. What was she lying on? Skandar explored the surface with her fingers slowly and realised that she was sitting on wood. Wood…in the middle of the ocean? Confused, Skandar started to sit up and then she noticed that there were people watching her. She froze and gazed around the small circle, her amazement growing with each new face she saw.

Peter Pevensie.

Susan Pevensie.

Sam Temple.

Elizabeth Swann.

Will Turner.

Lucy Pevensie.

Jack Sparrow.

Edmund Pevensie!

Vanessa.

Caine Soren.

"Wow…what the heck?" was all Skandar could say.

_Edmund _

Edmund couldn't believe what he was hearing, honestly. Vanessa expected them to believe that they weren't real – and never had been! – and that she had read them out of books? It was so unbelievable…and he knew everyone else thought so too.

"That's impossible!" Sam voiced.

"Not logical," Susan argued.

"Are you out of your mind?" Elizabeth.

"I don't think so…" Lucy said gently.

"You never know, "Caspian said supportively. "There are many strange magics in the world; maybe Vanessa has discovered another kind."

"We _are _real," Peter argued. "See?" He put a hand on Edmund's shoulder. "You can't argue that we're real, Vanessa."

Vanessa shrugged. Then the winged girl began to cough, distracting everyone from the argument. They fell silent and watched the girl sit up slowly and blink like an owl as she noticed everyone watching her. "Wow…what the heck?" she said after a moment.

Peter immediately knelt down in front of her and said gently, "I'm Peter Pevensie. How are you feeling?" Edmund was surprised to hear the kindness in Peter's voice, and he wondered if his brother wasn't curious about Skandar for different reasons.

"I'm…okay," Skandar said unsuredly, as if she wasn't certain about how she was feeling. He offered her a hand and the winged girl took it dazedly as he pulled her to her feet. "Come on," Peter said. "I'll take you below decks; there are hammocks down there where you can rest."

"Oh. Thanks," Skandar said faintly and Peter guided her away from the group. Edmund raised his eyebrows. How quickly Peter had fallen!

"So," Caspian said, drawing Edmund's gaze back to him along with the others. "Vanessa has told us her theory, and as no one has any better ideas of how we got here, her theory will be the official one for now. Vanessa, what did you say the name of this place is?"

"Istalya."

"And is there in land in Istalya?" Caspian asked then.

Vanessa thought for a minute. "I don't think so…but I could probably create some, if you want."

Caspian laughed. "Very well. Maybe later, then. But right now, I think we've had enough excitement for a while. Lucy can get you some new clothes and show you where you can sleep. If you have any questions, you can ask me or Peter. Jack Sparrow is our captain, so if you're going to create any land, be sure to give him the headings for it."

"Sounds good," Vanessa said happily, and then she dashed off to the helm, leaving the little group bewildered and unsure of what to think.

They weren't real?


End file.
